Pistory  of  the  free  Quakers. 


BY  Charles  Wetherill. 


> 


THE  LIBRARIES 


HISTORY 


RELIGIOUS  SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS 


CALLED   BY  SOME 


THE    FREE    QUAKERS 


CITY  OF   PHILADELPHIA. 


BY 

CHARLES   WETHERILL. 


1894. 


PRINTED   FOR  THE   SOCIETY. 
EDITION   LIMITED  TO   800   COPIES. 


No.. 


PREFACE. 


On  the  Southwest  corner  of  Fifth  and  Arch  Streets  in 
the  City  of  Philadelphia,  there  stands  a  small  substantially 
built  brick  Meeting  House,  which  has  for  many  years  been 
occupied  by  the  Apprentices'  Library  Company,  The  gable 
end  of  the  building  fronts  on  Arch  Street,  and  has  built  into 
it  a  marble  tablet  bearing  this  inscription : — 

"  By  General  Subscription, 
For  the  Free  Quakers,  erected, 
In  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1783, 
Of  the  Empire  8." 

Nearly  every  building  of  the  old  City  has,  since  this  date, 
been  torn  down  and  replaced  by  edifices  suited  to  the 
changing  needs  of  commerce  ;  but  this  house  stands,  the 
memorial  of  a  past  age,  and  is  the  only  monument  now  left 
of  the  heroism  of  certain  members  of  the  Religious  Society 
of  Friends,  in  the  stormy  time  of  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  story  is  now  nearly  forgotten,  and  if  not  recorded  may 
perhaps  soon  be  lost  entirely,  and  it  is  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  this;  and  to  answer  questions  which  the  author  of 
these  notes  has  often  been  asked  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Free 
Quakers,  that  he  now  attempts  to  revive  from  the  torn  and 
faded  records  of  the  old  times,  the  history  of  that  Society. 

C.  Wetherill. 

March  8,  i8g4. 


I.  Introductory — Colonial  Period. 

In  considering  the  history  of  any  Society,  it  is  of  the  first 
importance  to  note  its  origin,  and  if  it  is  a  branch,  or  formed 
out  of  an  older  Society;  then  the  antecedent  history  of  the 
parent  organization  should  be  examined  for  that  purpose. 

As  the  Free  Quakers  were  originally  Orthodox  Friends, 
their  history  will  not  be  complete  without  some  considera- 
tion of  the  nature  of  the  Quakers  and  their  peculiarities  of 
faith  and  practice,  for  before  the  Revolutionary  War  the 
societies  were  identical.  This  is  now  briefly  to  be  done,  at 
the  risk  of  repeating  what  has  been  better  said  before. 

The  organized  followers  of  the  religious  teachings  of 
George  Fox  called  themselves  ''Friends,"  for  they  pro- 
fessed themselves  to  be  friends,  not  merely  of  each  other, 
but  of  all  mankind.  Their  more  common  appellation  of 
"Quakers"  was  applied  to  them  in  derision  by  their  ene- 
mies. 

Their  belief  was  based  upon  this  idea  : — 

They  conceived  it  to  be  their  duty  strictly  to  follow  the 
Divine  commands,  as  contained  in  the  Bible,  according  to 
their  understanding  thereof,  and  from  this  they  made  the 
further  deduction  that  where  God's  command  and  human 
law  seemed  to  them  to  be  in  conflict,  they  obeyed  what 
seemed  to  them  to  be  the  Divine  command,  and  willingly 
suffered  the  consequences,  whatever  they  might  be.  They 
understood  the  Bible  to  contain  an  order  to  all  men  "  to 
swear  not  at  all,"  from  which  they  inferred  not  only  that 
5 


profane  swearing  was  forbidden,  but  also  that  the  oath  taken 
by  witnesses  and  jurors  in  judicial  proceedings  is  equally 
immoral  and  wrong. 

They  read  in  Holy  Writ  that  "all  men  are  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God,"  and  they  therefore  spoke  of  and  addressed 
men  of  all  ranks  by  name  and  not  by  title,  and  refused  to 
show  any  mark  of  respect  to  any  earthly  magistrate. 

They  read  the  Divine  command,  "so  far  as  possible  to 
live  at  peace  with  all  men,"  and  interpreted  this  to  mean  a 
total  prohibition  of  all  war  or  strife,  offensive  or  defensive, 
and  they  thereupon  refused  to  serve  in  the  army,  or  to  make 
or  trade  in  any  munitions  of  war,  or  even  to  pay  military 
taxes  laid  upon  them,  with  their  fellow  subjects,  by  lawful 
authority. 

They  read  that  the  Apostles  "  left  all  they  had  to  follow  the 
Lord,"  and  were  mostly  poor  and  unlettered  men,  enlight- 
ened directly  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  They  thereupon  con- 
cluded to  lead  lives  of  extreme  simplicity,  and  separate  them- 
selves from  the  vain  follies  of  the  world,  and  that  the  Gospel 
ought  to  be  taught  freely  to  all  men,  and  that  not  by  a 
priesthood  supported  by  the  government,  or  separated  from 
the  ordinary  avocations  of  mankind,  but  by  any  person  who 
felt  impelled  by  the  working  of  the  Spirit  within  him  to 
bear  his  testimony ;  also  for  this  reason  they  refused  to  pay 
all  tithes  or  taxes  levied  for  the  support  of  the  lawfully  estab- 
lished Church  of  England.  Another  consequence  of  their 
objection  to  a  priesthood  or  ministry  was,  that,  as  there  was 
no  one  to  officially  conduct  or  solemnize  marriages  among 
them,  the  marriage  ceremony  of  the  Quakers  is  a  solemn 
contract  signed  and  entered  into  by  the  parties  themselves  in 
the  presence  of  witnesses,  without  the  intervention  of  any 
priest  or  magistrate. 


The  result  of  the  formation  of  a  small  sect  earnestly 
devoted  to  such  doctrines,  in  the  times  of  Charles  the 
Second,  in  England,  might  easily  be  foreseen  by  any  one  ac- 
quainted with  the  bigoted,  yet  dissolute,  spirit  of  that  period. 

They  were  received  wherever  they  appeared  with  derision 
and  scorn  by  the  gay  and  polite  courtiers,  on  account  of 
their  simplicity  of  manners ;  with  contempt  by  the  soldiers, 
by  reason  of  their  peaceful  principles,  and  with  stern  dis- 
approbation by  the  orderly  and  law-abiding,  who  viewed 
with  dismay  their  irregular  conduct  and  doubtful  marriages. 
They  were  attacked  alike  by  the  corrupt,  who  found  them  an 
easy  prey  on  account  of  their  principle  of  non-resistance, 
and  by  the  clergy,  whose  services  they  disturbed,  and  to 
whom  they  refused  to  pay  tithes.  They  were  also  punished  by 
the  royal  Government  for  their  non-payment  of  taxes,  their 
failure  to  conform  with  the  lawfully  established  religion,  and 
their  refusal  to  serve  in  the  army  ;  and  they  received  but 
scant  comfort  in  the  courts  of  justice,  where  they  steadfastly 
refused  to  be  sworn  either  as  jurors  or  witnesses.  The 
elements  of  respectability  and  conservatism  united  with  those 
of  disorder  and  corruption  to  punish  and  persecute  them 
with  all  possible  rigor — and  this  they  bore  with  the  courage 
and  constancy  of  men  filled  with  religious  enthusiasm. 

But  when,  after  enduring  these  sufferings  for  a  number  of 
years,  William  Penn  was  enabled  to  afford  them  the  oppor- 
tunity to  emigrate  to  West  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  it  was 
thankfully  accepted  by  many,  and  a  colony  largely  composed 
of  Friends  was  speedily  formed.  Their  most  important 
settlement  at  first  was  in  Burlington,  in  West  Jersey,  where 
the  first  yearly  meeting  was  established  on  the  third  First  day 
of  the  Sixth  month,  1681,  but  the  superior  advantages  of 
Philadelphia  soon  attracted  to  it  a  large  number  of  settlers. 


8 

both  Friends  and  others,  and  made  it  the  chief  town  of  the 
British  colonies. 

While  many  of  the  original  colonists  were  not  Friends,  as, 
for  instance,  the  Swedes,  of  Tinicum,  and  the  German 
followers  of  Pastorius,  in  Germantown,  yet  the  Friends  were 
by  far  the  most  numerous  and  influential  fnembers  of  the  new 
settlement.  In  their  new  and  peaceful  surroundings,  the 
religious  sentiments  and  belief  of  the  Friends  remained  the 
same  as  before  their  emigration,  yet  some  remarkable  changes 
took  place.  Far  removed  from  the  tyranny  of  royal  and 
priestly  authority,  and  living  in  a  country  where  there  was  no 
one  to  contend  against  them,  they  soon  laid  by  the  extra- 
vagant outbursts  which  had  brought  them  into  disrepute  in 
England,  and  from  being  one  of  the  most  active  and 
eccentric  of  all  the  religious  sects,  they  soon  became  the 
most  conservative  and  meditative,  and  the  informality  of  their 
devotions  soon  by  force  of  habit  attained  to  a  regularity 
almost  ritualistic. 

Their  thrifty  and  industrious  habits  were  soon  rewarded  by 
the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  although  their  plainness  of 
speech  and  dress  continued  unchanged,  prosperity  engrafted 
upon  their  simple  manners  an  aristocratic  and  dignified  bear- 
ing, and  the  care  of  their  large  earnings  gradually  introduced 
among  them  a  spirit  of  caution  and  conservatism. 

They  still,  on  principle,  avoided  the  courts  of  justice,  and 
each  community  or  ''  Meeting  "  settled  the  disputes  of  their 
members  by  the  arbitration  of  a  Committee.  The  Com- 
mittee in  each  Meeting  soon  assumed  great  power  and 
authority,  and  under  their  leadership  the  private  lives  and 
concerns  of  their  members  were  regulated  in  their  most  im- 
portant and  also  in  their  most  trivial  details,  with  a  strictness 
which  in   some   particulars   may  have   been   necessary,   but 


which  was  often  exercised  in  a  harsh  and  undiscriminating 
manner.  For  persisting  in  the  use  of  wordly  gayety  of 
dress  or  household  ornament,  for  marrying  a  person  not  a 
member  of  Meeting,  for  hasty  violence  of  language,  or  strik- 
ing any  one,  even  in  self-defence  or  in  the  defence  of  one's 
family,  the  same  punishments  of  reprimand  and  disownment 
were  decreed  as  if  the  offender  were  found  guilty  of  the 
mostldisgraceful  and  immoral  conduct,  and  from  these  sen- 
tences there  was  no  practical  appeal  to  any  higher  authority 
than  those  who  pronounced  them ;  for  the  appeal  allowed  to 
Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meetings  hardly  availed  the  appellant, 
in  Philadelphia,  at  least,  where  the  Committee  of  the  Monthly 
Meetings  were  also  influential  in  the  meetings  to  which  the 
appeals  were  taken.  While  they  were  most  benevolent  in 
their  works  of  charity  to  all  men  who  needed  help,  whether 
they  were  Friends  or  not,  there  was  but  little  kindness  shown 
to  Friends  who  disregarded  the  discipline  laid  down  by  the 
meeting. 

Whatever  feeling  of  discontent  there  may  have  been  among 
members  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends  in  America  at 
its  rather  severe  discipline  and  occasional  harsh  enforcement, 
there  was  no  open  organized  opposition  to  the  system  during 
the  colonial  period,  but  with  the  Revolution  a  more  aggressive 
spirit  arose.  The  war  for  freedom  caused  a  great  awakening 
of  intellect  in  the  American  community  ;  invaded  by  an  over- 
whelming force,  threatened  with  utter  destruction,  and  thrown 
suddenly  on  their  own  resources,  its  sturdy,  manly,  Anglo- 
Saxon  spirit  rose  nobly  to  the  needs  of  the  emergency.  It 
not  only  produced  the  military  genius  of  Washington  and  the 
soldiers  who  served  with  him,  it  warmed  the  eloquence  of 
Henry  and  Adams,  it  enlivened  the  philosophy  of  Jefferson, 
it  roused  the  varied  talents  for  science  and  diplomacy  of 


Franklin,  it  strengthened  alike  the  infidelity  of  Paine  and 
the  Christian  devotion  of  Bishop  White.  It  stirred  the  intel- 
lect and  heart  of  the  whole  community  to  their  very  depths. 
And  to  relate  the  effect  on  the  rich,  peaceful,  conservative 
Society  of  Friends  is  the  object  of  this  little  history. 


II.  Revolutionary  Period. 

It  is  with  no  wish  to  cast  reproach  upon  the  respectable 
Society  of  Friends  that  the  fact  is  recorded  that  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  differences  between  the  American  colonists 
and  the  home  Government,  and  until  the  event  of  war  settled 
the  points  at  issue  in  favor  of  the  cause  of  freedom,  the 
sympathies  of  those  who  controlled  the  public  action  of  that 
society  were  with  the  Crown. 

The  leading  members  of  that  society  were  men  who  had 
grown  old  in  the  habit  of  loyalty,  and  had  been  rewarded 
therefor  by  dignities  and  wealth.  Their  government  of  the 
colony  had  always  been  peaceful ;  the  spirit  of  resistance 
threatened  war ;  and  war  was  not  only  a  subversion  of  their 
religious  principles,  but  it  threatened  ruin  to  their  worldly 
fortunes.  With  the  habitual  caution  of  men  advanced  in 
years,  they  looked  with  disfavor  on  the  hot-headed  young 
patriots  who  declared  themselves  supporters  of  so  radical  a 
change  as  the  establishment  of  an  independent  government. 

The  calling  together  of  the  first  Continental  Congress  was 
an  act  of  heroic  patriotism  from  the  American  standpoint, 
but  was  mere  treasonable  plotting  in  the  royalists'  eyes. 

Accordingly,  we  find  that  at  the  General  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Friends,  held  in  Philadelphia  in   1774,  a  letter  was  formally 


approved  and  ordered  to  be  sent  to  all  Meetings  of  Friends  in 
America,  warning  all  members  of  that  Society  not  to  depart 
from  their  peaceful  principles  by  taking  part  in  any  of  the 
political  matters  then  being  stirred  up,  reminding  all  Friends 
that  under  the  King's  government  they  had  been  favored 
with  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  enjoyment  of  their  rights,  and 
strongly  suggesting  the  propriety  of  disowning  all  such  mem- 
bers as  disobeyed  the  orders  issued  by  the  Yearly  Meeting. 
This  letter  was  generally  respected  and  obeyed,  and  most 
Friends  took  no  part  in  the  war  for  freedom. 

But  this  was  not  so  with  all :  among  the  younger  members 
many  took  an  active  part.  These  held  that  as  they  should 
render  duty  to  their  Government  of  willing  obedience,  so  also 
they  owed  it  their  active  support  when  threatened  by  inva- 
sion. While  agreeing  with  their  elders  as  to  the  wickedness 
of  aggressive  war  and  needless  strife,  they  took  the  ground 
that  it  would  be  inconsistent  to  accept  the  support  of  the 
Continental  Congress  and  armies,  and  refuse  to  aid  them  by 
every  means  possible.  These  men  had  to  resist  the  prejudices 
which  they  had  been  educated  in  and  by  which  they  were 
surrounded.  They  had  to  meet  their  brethren  before  they 
went  forth  to  meet  the  enemy ;  but  they  stood  their  ground 
without  wavering.  They  served  actively  in  the  armies  on  the 
American  side,  they  appeared  in  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  they  were  seated  in  the  Legislature,  they  were  con- 
cerned in  the  printing  of  the  Continental  money.  They 
gladly  gave  to  the  cause  out  of  their  purses  and  stocks  of 
goods.  Nor  was  it  only  by  the  men  that  these  services  were 
rendered,  the  women  attended  their  husbands  to  the  wars, 
and  it  is  still  remembered  that  during  the  battle  of  Trenton 
the  wives  of  the  Quaker  soldiers  helped  on  the  battle- 
field   to    bandage    the   wounded,    and   the   first   flags   that 


were    carried    by    the   American   armies   were   made    by   a 
Quaker  woman. 

While  this  was  being  done,  however,  the  Friends  were 
not  idle.  They  took  prompt  notice  of  the  warlike  pro- 
pensities of  their  younger  brethren,  and  the  curious  stu- 
dent of  history  who  examines  the  records  of  Friends' 
meetings  of  that  period  will  find  a  great  number  of  entries 
like  these:  — 

"  Isaac  Howell  of  this  city  who  has  made  many  years  pro- 
"  fession  of  the  Truth  with  us  the  people  called  Quakers,  and 
"we  believe  has  been  convinced  of  that  divine  principle 
"which  preserves  the  followers  thereof  from  a  disposition 
"and  conduct  tending  to  promote  war,  has  notwithstanding 
"  so  far  deviated  therefrom  as  to  manifest  a  disposition  to  con- 
"  tend  for  the  asserting  of  civil  rights  in  a  manner  contrary 
"  to  our  peaceable  profession  and  principles,  and  accepted  of 
"  and  acted  in  a  public  station,  the  purpose  and  intention  of 
"which  has  tended  to  promote  measures  inconsistent  there- 
"  with.  It  thereupon  became  our  concern  to  treat  with  him, 
"with  desire  to  convince  him  of  his  error,  but  our  labour  of 
"love  not  having  the  desired  effect,  and  as  the  testimony  of 
"Truth  has  suffered  by  his  means,  and  he  doth  not  shew  a 
"  disposition  to  condemn  the  same,  We  are  under  the 
"necessity  in  order  to  support  our  Christian  Testimony  to 
"declare  that  he  hath  separated  himself  from  the  Unity  and 
"  fellowship  of  our  Religious  Society.  Yet  it  is  our  earnest 
"desire  that  he  may  become  sensible  of  his  deviations  so  as 
"to  manifest  a  just  sense  of  his  error,  and  by  a  due  concern 
"for  the  testimony  of  Truth,  manifested  by  a  suitable  ac- 
"  knowledgement,  become  restored  into  membership." 

Which  entry  means  that  Isaac  Howell  having  disobeyed 
the  precept  of  Yearly  Meeting  of  1774,  and  also  having 
fallen  away  from  correct  following  after  Quakerism  by  accept- 
ing office  under  a  government  in  rebellion,  and  by  serving  in  a 


military  capacity,  was  thereupon  disowned  and  excommuni- 
cated by  the  Philadelphia  Meeting  of  Friends. 

This  action  of  Friends  was  not  confined  to  the  meetings  in 
Philadelphia ;  the  following  is  a  copy  from  the  minutes  of 
the  meeting  at  Wrightstown,  in  Bucks  County : — 

"  From  our  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends,  held  at  Wrights- 
''  town,  the  4th  day  of  the  nth  month,  1777  : — 

"Whereas,  John  Wilkinson  hath  had  his  birth  and  educa- 
"  tion  amongst  Friends,  but  hath  so  far  disregarded  the  peace 
**  of  society  as  to  have  served  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
"in  the  present  unsettled  state  of  affairs,  contrary  to  the  ad- 
"  vice  of  Friends;  and,  although  repeatedly  admonished  on 
"the  occasion,  doth  not  manifest  a  disposition  to  make  the 
"Meeting  a  proper  acknowledgement  for  his  outgoings: 
"  therefore,  for  the  clearing  of  truth  and  our  Society,  we  give 
"forth  this,  our  testimony,  against  such  practices,  and  can 
"  have  no  further  unity  with  him,  the  said  John  Wilkinson, 
"  as  a  member  of  our  Society,  until  he  come  to  a  sense  of  his 
"error,  and  condemn  the  same  to  the  satisfaction  of  Friends, 
"  which  that  he  may  we  desire  for  him.  Signed  in  and  on 
"  behalf  of  our  said  meeting  by  J.  Chapman,  Clerk^ 

The  disowned  members  occasionally  made  vigorous  protest 
against  the  action  of  their  Royalist  brethren.  The  testimony 
of  the  Wrightstown  meeting  against  Thomas  Ross,  Jr.,  and 
his  testimony  against  the  meeting  which  disowned  him,  are 
an  example  of  this,  as  the  following  copy  will  show: — 

"From  our  Monthly  Meeting  held  at  Wrightstown,  the 
"  7th  of  the  i2th  month,  1779:  — 

"Whereas,  Thomas  Ross,  Jr.,  having  had  his  birth  and 
"  education  amongst  Friends,  but  having  so  far  disregarded 
"  the  testimony  of  truth  against  wars  and  fighting  as  to  pay  a 
"fine  demanded  of  him  for  not  associating  to  learn  the  art  of 
"war;  and   Friends   having  treated   with  him    in  order   to 


14 

"  bring  him  to  a  sense  of  his  misconduct,  yet  he  continues  to 
"justify  himself  in  so  doing:  therefore  we  give  forth  this  as 
"a.  testimony  against  such  practices,  and  can  have  no  further 
"  unity  with  him  as  a  member  of  our  Society,  until  he  comes 
"  to  a  sense  of  his  error  and  condemns  the  same  to  the  satis- 
"  faction  of  Friends,  which  he  may  do  is  our  desire  for  him. 
"  Signed  in  and  on  behalf  of  our  said  meeting  by 

"J.  Chapman,  C/erk." 

"  When  the  clerk  had  finished  reading  the  above  testimony, 
"  Mr.  Ross  stood  up  and  read  the  following  declaration  to 
"  the  meeting  : — 

"Whereas,  the  Society  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  in 
"  North  America,  in  several  important  particulars,  both  in 
"theory  and  practice,  have  departed  from  their  ancient 
"creed,  and  inasmuch  as,  in  their  ecclesiastical  decisions  and 
"  transactions,  they  are  become  extremely  partial,  inconsist- 
"  ent,  and  hypocritical,  I  do  therefore  give  forth  this  my  tes- 
"  timony  against  their  present  practice  and  innovations,  and 
"  can  have  no  further  unity  with  them  as  a  member  of  their 
"Society  until  they  shall  add  to  a  profession  more  consistent 
"with  the  doctrine  of  Christianity  or  practice  more  agreeable 
"to  their  profession.     Signed  on  behalf  of  himself  by 

"Thomas  Ross,  Jr." 

And  this  course  was  persisted  in  by  the  Quakers  until  near 
the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  Here  is  a  certificate 
dated  in  1780  : — 

"From  our  Monthly  Meeting  held  at  Buckingham,  the  3d 
"  day  of  the  ist  month,  1780:  — 

"Joshua  Ely,  Jr.,  hath  had  his  birth  and  education  among 
"  the  people  called  Quakers,  and  made  profession  with  them  ; 
"  yet  he  has  been  so  unguarded,  in  this  time  of  commotion 
"and  unsettled  state  of  public  affairs,  as  to  take  a  test  of  alle- 
"  giance  and  abjuration  ;  and  although  he  hath  been  labored 
"  with  to  convince  him  of  the  inconsistency  thereof  with  our 


15 

"peaceable  profession,  so  as  to  contemn  him  in  so  doing; 
"but  it  has  not  had  the  desired  effect,  he  endeavoring  still  to 
"justify  his  conduct :  therefore  we  do  give  forth  this  our  tes- 
"timony  against  him  as  a  member  in  society  with  us  until  he 
"  comes  to  a  sense  of  his  error  and  makes  satisfaction  to  the 
"meeting,  which  he  may  is  our  desire  for  him.  Signed  by 
"  order  and  on  behalf  of  our  said  meeting  by 

"  Robert  KiRKBRiDE,  Clerky 

On  June  13,  1777,  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  passed 
a  law  commanding  all  residents  to  forthwith  appear  before 
the  justices  or  other  officers  qualified  to  administer  judicial 
oaths,  and  take  oath  or  affirmation  of  allegiance  to  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  and  the  United  States,  and  abjure  forever  all 
allegiance  to  the  King  and  Government  of  Great  Britain. 
This  brought  the  issue  fairly  and  fully  before  the  Society  of 
Friends ;  the  leaders  of  that  Society  stood  firm  to  the  letter 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  1774,  and  generally  failed  to  comply 
with  the  law.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  some,  fearful  alike 
of  disownment  and  of  the  punishment  for  treason  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  the  penalties  of  the  new  law  on  the  other, 
took  the  oath  of  allegiance  secretly,  but  some  young  Friends, 
more  earnest  and  candid  than  their  brethren,  attended  pub- 
licly before  the  Justices  and  openly  and  willingly  complied 
with  the  law.  Among  these  was  Samuel  Wetherill,  Junior, 
who  was  a  minister  or  public  speaker  at  the  meetings  of 
Friends,  and  also  a  very  active  man  of  affairs.  He  was  great- 
grandson  of  Christopher  Wetherill,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Burlington,  in  West  Jersey,  and  one  of  the  Council  of  Pro- 
prietors which  originally  governed  that  colony. 

Samuel  was  born  in  Burlington  in  1736,  and  while  a  boy 
came  to  Philadelphia  and  was  apprenticed  to  Mordecai  Yar- 
nall,   who  was  an  eminent  and  pious  preacher  among  the 


Friends,  and  also  a  house  carpenter.  Like  the  good  appren- 
tice of  Hogarth,  he  married  his  master's  daughter,  and  by- 
attending  diligently  to  business  gained  a  good  standing  in 
the  city,  and  by  his  earnest  and  devout  attention  at  meeting, 
was  much  respected  by  the  Friends.  Just  before  the  time 
we  now  speak  of,  in  1775,  he  joined  with  Christopher  Mar- 
shall and  several  other  enterprising  men  in  founding  the  first 
factory  for  weaving  cloth  in  the  American  Colonies,  and 
when  the  war  broke  out  this  factory  was  in  active  operation. 
Not  only  did  Samuel  Wetherill  publicly  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  but  his  public  speech  and  ready  pen  were  very 
actively  enlisted  for  the  American  cause. 

The  cloth  woven  by  his  factory  was  also  supplied  to  the 
army,  and  it  is  said  that  a  timely  shipment  of  these  supplies 
to  the  little  army  of  Washington,  at  Valley  Forge,  saved  it 
from  disbanding.  He  met  his  reward,  the  following  entry 
in  Friends'  Meeting  Record  attesting  the  same: — 

"Whereas,  Samuel  Wetherill  of  this  city  hath  many  years 
"  made  profession  of  the  Truth  with  us,  and  we  have  grounds 
"  to  hope  he  hath  been  convinced  of  the  nature  and  excel- 
"  lency  of  Christian  union  and  fellowship,  but  not  being 
"sufficiently  attentive  to  the  Divine  principle  of  Gospel 
"  peace  and  love,  which  leads  and  preserves  the  followers  of 
"  Christ  out  of  contention  and  discord,  has  deviated  from  our 
"  ancient  Testimony  and  peaceable  principles,  by  manifest- 
"  ing  himself  a  party  in  the  public  commotions  prevailing, 
"  and  taking  a  test  of  abjuration  and  allegiance,  and  hath  also 
"  violated  the  established  order  of  our  Discipline  by  being 
"concerned  in  publisliing  or  distributing  a  book  tending  to 
"  promote  dissension  and  division  among  Friends  :  It  there- 
"  fore  became  our  care  to  labour  to  convince  him  of  the 
"  hurtful  tendency  of  his  conduct,  but  our  brotherly  concern 
"  and  endeavours  for  him  not  being  effectual,  he  persisting  to 
"  vindicate  his  sentiments  and  proceedings  in  opposition  to 


17 

"the  united  sense  and  judgment  of  Friends,  we  apprehend 
"  ourselves  under  the  necessity,  in  support  of  our  Christian, 
"peaceable  testimony,  to  declare  that  he  hath  separated 
"himself  from  fellowship  with  us  and  become  secluded  from 
"  membership  in  our  religious  Society: — Nevertheless,  we  are 
"sincerely  concerned  for  his  welfare  and  restoration,  with 
"  desires  that  by  his  humble  attention  to  the  illumination  of 
"  Divine  Grace  he  may  become  so  sensible  of  his  deviation 
"and  errors  as  to  be  rightly  restored  into  membership  with 
"us.     8th  month,  1779." 

What  the  book  was  that  Samuel  Wetherill  published  and 
distributed  is  not  now  known :  other  literary  works  of  his 
that  have  survived  to  the  present  time,  mostly  on  religious 
subjects,  are  very  forcibly  expressed ;  and  upon  those  points 
in  which  he  differed  from  his  brethren  he  probably  expressed 
himself  with  great  clearness  and  vigor.  Whatever  their  re- 
ply may  have  been,  the  only  answer  that  has  come  down  to 
us  is  the  above  entry. 

Not  only  in  Philadelphia  and  its  vicinity,  but  elsewhere  in 
the  colonies,  notably  in  Maryland  and  Massachusetts,  many 
Quakers  were  disowned  for  their  service  in  the  cause  of  their 
country. 

In  considering  the  effects  of  disownment  on  those  who 
were  thus  disowned,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Quakers 
were,  as  they  still  are,  an  exceedingly  religious  people.  Their 
religion  was  not  to  them  a  mere  external  habit  of  devotion, 
to  be  exhibited  to  other  men  on  the  First  day  of  the  week 
and  laid  aside  until  the  following  First  day.  They  meditated 
on  it  daily ;  it  accompanied  them  in  their  round  of  duty  and 
business,  the  Bible  was  read  and  studied  constantly,  and 
their  meeting  was  far  more  to  them  than  their  place  of 
worship. 

The  Philadelphian  of  to-day  has  many  places  of  amusement 
2 


i8 

and  instruction  which  our  ancestors  of  the  Revolutionary- 
time  were  without.  In  that  little  city,  where  the  woods 
began  at  Fourth  and  Pine  Streets,  extending  to  the  Schuylkill 
River,  where  the  State  House  on  Chestnut  Street  and  the 
jail  at  Sixth  and  Walnut  were  almost  out  in  the  country, 
there  were  no  theatres  or  concerts  or  lectures  on  subjects  of 
popular  interest,  and  no  clubs  or  societies  of  a  social  kind, 
or  at  least  very  few.  In  that  day  the  meeting  was  not  only 
a  place  of  religious  worship,  it  was  to  Friends  the  chief  place 
of  social  concourse  as  well,  and  he  who  was  disowned  for 
political  cause  was  lonely  indeed ;  for  such  a  man  was,  in 
his  heart,  as  truly  a  Quaker  as  any  who  disowned  him. 
The  services  of  the  Established  Church  were  as  distasteful 
to  him  as  they  had  been  to  Fox  and  Penn,  so  Christ  Church 
had  no  attractions  for  him,  and  the  bells  of  the  little 
Swedish  Lutheran  Church  of  the  Gloria  Dei,  ringing  over 
the  meadows  of  Moyamensing,  called  him  in  vain. 

His  heart  yearned  for  the  meeting,  and  its  associations 
were  none  the  less  dear  to  him  that  he  had  been  disowned,  as 
it  seemed  to  him,  unjustly.  As  the  Revolutionary  War  went 
on  and  the  number  of  disowned  Friends  increased,  they 
became  something  of  a  feature  in  the  city,  and  the  more 
devout  among  them  began  to  meet  together  and  compare 
views.  It  seems  that  they  first  met  in  sipall  numbers  in  the 
autumn  of  1780,  at  the  houses  of  Samuel  Wetherill  and 
Timothy  Matlack,  and  after  a  number  of  meetings  for  reli- 
gious worship,  the  propriety  of  forming  a  meeting  of  their 
own  was  discussed  among  them.  Several  favored  this  action, 
and  on  the  twentieth  day  of  February,  1781,  the  new  Society 
held  its  first  meeting  for  business.  The  first  minute  book  has 
been  preserved,  and  it  speaks  of  the  Society  as  "  The  Reli- 
gious Society  of  Friends,  by  some  styled  the  Free  Quakers." 


19 

A  full  list  of  the  original  members  cannot  be  given,  as 
some  attended  irregularly  and  failed  to  register  their  names,* 
but  among  the  members  the  more  conspicuous  were  the 
following : — 

Tifnoihy  Matlack,  who  was  a  colonel  in  the  army  and  a 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  Later  he  was  a 
member  of  the  State  Legislature,  and  was  a  very  active 
patriot. 

White  Matlack,  brother  of  Timothy. 

William  Crispin,  who  was  commissary  in  General  Wash- 
ington's Army. 

Colonel  Clement  Biddle,  a  member  of  the  well-known  family 
of  that  name,  who  was  disowned  as  early  as  1775  for  "study- 
ing to  learn  the  art  of  war,"  he  having  raised  a  company  of 
soldiers  composed  largely  of  Quakers.  He  afterward  served 
as  Quartermaster-General  in  the  Revolutionary  Army  under 
General  Gates,  at  Valley  Forge  and  elsewhere. 

Owen  Biddle,  his  brother,  who  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature. 

Benjamin  Say,  who  was  a  well-known  physician  at  that 
time. 

Samuel  Wetherill,  Jr.,  who  was  the  preacher  and  clerk  of 
the  meeting. 

Christopher  Marshall,  who  was  a  well-known  patriot  and 
an  active  member  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety.  His 
diary  has  been  published. 

Joseph  Warner,  who  served  in  the  army  and  was  at  the 
Battle  of  Trenton. 

Peter  Thotnson,  who  was  employed  by  Congress  to  print 
the  Continental  money. 

*  Vide  Appendix  for  a  partial  list  of  members. 


Nathaniel  Browne,  Isaac  Howell,  Moses  Bartram,  and 
/onalhan  Scholfield  were  also  prominent  members. 

Among  the  women  who  were  members  the  most  famous 
were  Lydia  Darragh  and  Elizabeth  Griscom,  widow  of  John 
Ross,  who  afterward  married  John  Claypoole.  Lydia  Dar- 
ragh's  house  was  used  by  certain  British  officers  as  their  head- 
quarters while  their  army  occupied  Philadelphia,  and  she 
accidentally  overheard  them  plan  a  surprise,  by  night,  of 
Washington's  army,  then  encamped  at  White  Marsh.  She 
escaped  from  the  city  and  conveyed  news  of  the  intended 
attack  to  the  American  army,  and  thus  probably  saved  it  and 
the  American  cause  from  destruction. 

Elizabeth  Claypoole  lived  in  a  small  house  on  Arch  Street, 
below  Third,  and  was  poor,  supporting  herself  by  her  needle, 
and  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  first  American  flags  used  in  the 
army  were  made  by  her  in  June,  1776.  The  order  of  Congress 
directing  her  to  be  paid  for  this  service  has  been  preserved. 
The  meeting  of  which  she  was  a  member  disowned  her  for 
making  the  flags,  and  she,  with  her  husband,  who  was  a 
lieutenant  in  Colonel  Eyre's  regiment,  joined  the  Free  Qua- 
kers. She  was  of  very  gentle  and  amiable  disposition,  and 
it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  she  lived  to  see  the  flag  of  her 
country,  of  which  she  made  the  oldest  specimens,  honored 
and  respected  all  over  the  world.  She  was  much  loved  by 
those  who  knew  her,  and  was  familiarly  known  as  "  Betsey" 
Claypoole.  She  outlived  all  the  original  members,  dying  at 
a  very  advanced  age  in  1836. 

The  Society  was  not  a  large  one,  the  first  meeting  for  busi- 
ness being  attended  by  eight  persons. 

They  and  those  who  acted  with  them,  feeling,  no  doubt, 
that  in  forming  a  new  religious  organization  they  ought  to 
publicly  make  known  their  cause  of  so  doing,  prepared  and 


published  an  address  to  those  of  the  people  called  Quakers 
who  have  been  disowned  for  matters  religious  or  civil.  This 
was  printed  in  what  was  then  called  "broadside"  form,  on  a 
single  sheet  of  paper.  It  bears  date  "Philadelphia,  24th  of 
the  4th  month,  1781,"  and  a  copy  will  be  found  in  the 
Appendix.  This,  the  first  public,  printed  utterance  of  the 
Society,  should  be  carefully  studied,  and  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  at  this  time  the  American  cause  seemed  almost 
hopeless,  the  Congress  without  money  or  credit,  and  our 
armies  defeated  and  discouraged,  the  patriotic  language  of 
this  and  the  other  early  documents  of  the  Society  is  worthy 
of  particular  note.  It  calls  upon  those  who  have  been  dis- 
owned and  feel  the  need  of  religious  worship  to  join  with 
them  in  discharging  their  religious  duties  to  themselves  and 
their  children  and  families,  and  reminding  the  disowned  that 
many  of  them  have  been  turned  away  from  the  Society  in 
which  they  were  educated  "  for  no  other  cause  than  a  faithful 
"  discharge  of  those  duties  which  we  owe  to  our  country ;  "  it 
assures  them  that  "  we  have  no  new  doctrine  to  teach,  nor 
"  any  design  of  promoting  schisms  in  religion,"  ....  but 
"  mean  to  pay  a  due  regard  to  the  principles  of  our  fore- 
"  fathers.  We  have  no  desire  to  form  creeds  or  confessions 
"  of  faith,  but  humbly  to  confide  in  those  sacred  lessons  of  wis- 
"dom  and  benevolence  which  have  been  left  to  us  by  Christ 
"and  His  apostles  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
"  appealing  to  that  divine  principle,  breathed  by  the  breath  of 
"  God  into  the  hearts  of  all,  to  leave  every  man  to  think  and 
"judge  for  himself,  according  to  the  abilities  received,  and  to 
"answer  for  his  faith  and  opinions  to  Him  who  '  seeth  the 
"secrets  of  all  hearts,'  the  Sole  Judge  and  Sovereign  Lord  of 
"  Conscience."  The  faith  of  the  new  meeting,  therefore,  was 
the  Quaker  faith  in  which  they  had  been  brought  up.    The  same 


simplicity  of  life,  the  same  Christian  belief,  the  same  trust  in 
the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God,  the  same  appeal  to  "  a  divine 
"  principle  directly  sent  from  God  into  the  hearts  of  all  men," 
which  has  been  the  constant  claim  of  the  teachers  of  that 
faith  from  the  beginning,  was  asserted  fully  and  emphatically 
in  this  characteristic  address.  The  differences  indicated  were 
not  of  faith,  but  of  practice ;  but  they  were  so  original  as  to 
be  very  remarkable.  The  Free  Quakers  were  fighting  for  the 
same  liberty  in  matters  of  religion  that  they  had  contended 
for,  and  were  in  the  act  of  winning  politically.  They  had 
faced  the  power  of  England,  they  were  in  the  act  of  estab- 
lishing a  republican  government  for  America.  They  also 
wished  to  form  a  Church  in  which  its  members  would  be  as 
free  from  the  tyranny  of  bishops  and  ruling  elders  as  they 
sought  to  be  free  from  the  despotic  rule  of  a  foreign  and  dis- 
tant King.  The  first  point  with  them  was  that  in  the  new 
meeting  no  man  who  believed  in  God,  in  a  supreme,  wise, 
and  benevolent  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  and  who  joined  with 
them,  should  be  disowned  or  excommunicated  for  any  cause 
whatever.  It  was  charged  against  them  that  under  such  lax 
discipline  dangerous  new  doctrines  might  be  preached.  It 
was  answered,  "better  to  suffer  the  dangers  of  freedom  than 
the  coldness  of  repression,"  and  if  any  is  clearly  wrong, 
better  to  advise  with  him  kindly  than  to  turn  him  away.  It 
was  charged  that  such  a  discipline  left  it  in  the  power  of  one 
member  to  pronounce  opinions  at  variance  with  those  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  meeting.  It  was  answered  that  such  a  single 
member  might  be  in  the  right  and  his  brethren  in  error.  It 
was  charged  that  the  new  Society  might  be  disgraced  by  the 
possible  immoral  conduct  of  its  members  if  such  were  not 
disowned.  It  was  answered  that  the  Church  is  a  moral  and 
spiritual  hospital,  wherein  measures  ought  to  be  taken  to  heal 


23 

the  diseased,  and  that  the  more  sinful  a  member  seemed  to  be, 
the  more  evident  is  the  necessity  of  laboring  for  his  reforma- 
tion, and  that  if  any  supposed  disgrace  attended  on  companion- 
ship with  offenders,  that  inconvenience  was  more  than  repaid 
if  they  could  be  thereby  brought  to  reform  and  sin  no  more. 
On  one  other  point  they  differed  radically  from  the  older 
Society,  and  that  was  as  to  the  right  of  offering  forcible 
resistance  against  warlike  invasion.  The  Quakers  had  always 
held  that  resistance  was  sinful,  and  so  they  adhered  to  an 
absolute  peace,  under  all  circumstances,  suffering  violence 
to  themselves,  their  families,  and  their  country  rather  than 
offer  any  resistance  or  serve  in  the  army,  even  going  so  far 
as  to  refuse  to  pay  taxes  where  the  money  was  being  raised  for 
military  purposes.  The  Free  Quakers  held,  admitting  the 
necessity  of  government,  that  all  government  is  essentially  a 
defensive  war  for  the  protection  of  public  peace,  and  that 
when  the  government  is  threatened  by  domestic  treason  or 
foreign  invasion,  it  then  becomes  the  plain  duty  of  every  man 
to  join  in  the  public  defence  by  all  means  possible,  and  that 
war,  while  an  extreme  measure,  is  in  such  instances  not 
merely  justifiable,  but  right  and  proper,  and,  as  is  shown  above, 
the  founders  of  the  Society  showed  their  sincerity  in  this 
matter  by  serving  their  country,  with  their  very  best  exertions, 
at  the  time  of  its  utmost  need.  On  the  same  ground  they 
held,  contrary  to  the  discipline  of  Friends,  that  a  man  might 
forcibly  resist  any  bodily  violence  offered  to  himself  or  to 
any  one  to  whom  he  owed  the  duty  of  protection.  While 
their  views  as  to  warfare  and  resistance  were  precisely  the  same 
as  that  of  nearly  all  Christians,  they  were  in  such  striking 
contrast  to  the  well-settled  doctrines  of  the  Friends  that  they 
were  commonly  known,  and  are  still  sometimes  spoken  of,  as 
'  *  Fightmg ' '  Quakers. 


24 

These  views  they  very  firmly  adhered  to  and  very  forcibly 
set  forth  at  their  meetings  for  worship  by  the  preaching  of 
Samuel  Wetherill,  who  about  this  time  or  probably  a  little 
later — for  the  work  bears  no  date — wrote  and  published  a 
small  pamphlet  entitled  "An  Apology  for  the  Religious 
"Society  called  Free  Quakers  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia," 
in  which  he  argues  very  strongly  that  all  Churches  who 
excommunicate  act  inconsistently  with  the  Gospel,  and  in 
which  he  also  states  with  great  strength  and  clearness  the 
views  of  the  Society  on  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance.  The 
book  is  very  interesting,  as  showing  clearly  in  what  points 
they  differed  from  their  Orthodox  brethren. 
Among  other  things  he  says  (pp.  34,  35)  : — 
"  Those  who  believe  the  Society  of  Friends  are  the 
"  Church  of  Christ,  and  that  disowning  necessarily  implies 
"an  exclusion  from  Heaven,  are,  according  to  the  ancient 
"principle  laid  down  by  Barclay,  the  true  and  orthodox 
"  Quakers.  The  others  who  do  not  suppose  the  Society  are 
"the  pure  Church,  who  do  not  pretend  to  binding  and 
"  loosing  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  are  most  catholic  and 
"modest.  But  let  me  ask  those  friends :  supposing  a  num- 
"  ber  of  men  were  forming  themselves  into  a  religious  society 
"for  the  purposes  of  improvement  in  piety  and  virtue,  would 
"the  present  discipline  of  Friends  be  the  most  proper  rules 
"to  produce  this  effect?  Would  they  agree  that  no  one 
"among  them  should  marry  a  person  of  any  other  Society, 
"  though  ever  so  amiable,  under  pain  of  being  expelled  from 
"  the  body,  nor  even  a  member  of  their  own  Society,  unless 
"they  accomplished  their  marriage  agreeable  to  one  par- 
"  ticular  form?  That  no  man  should  defend  his  own  life, 
"  nor  the  life  of  his  friend,  nor  the  government  under  which 
"he  lived,  nor  pay  taxes  for  military  purposes,  nor  a  fine  for 


25 

"not  complying  with  the  laws  in  certain  cases?  That  no 
"man  should  publish  a  religious  or  political  treatise  without 
"  consent  of  the  Society,  under  the  penalty  of  being  expelled 
"  from  the  body  ?  Can  it  be  supposed  that  any  number  of 
"men  of  sound  understanding  would,  in  the  present  day, 
"lay  down  such  a  plan,  and  make  a  compliance  with  those 
"rules  the  test  of  Christian  fellowship?  If,  then,  it  is 
"impossible  to  suppose  such  a  case,  are  they  wise  who  make 
"those  rules  the  test  of  Christian  fellowship,  merely  because 
"  they  were  made  the  conditions  of  fellowship  by  their  ances- 
"tors?  How  much  more  reasonable  would  it  be  in  them 
"to  say:  the  design  of  this  institution  is,  that  we  may  be 
"mutually  instrumental  in  promoting  the  temporal  and  eter- 
"  nal  felicity  one  of  another?  We  feel  the  importance  of  a 
"virtuous  life,  we  will,  therefore,  use  all  the  means  with 
"which  divine  providence  may  favour  us,  solely  for  this  end. 
"If,  then,  a  brother  should  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  we  will 
"endeavour  to  restore  such  a  one  in  the  spirit  of  meekness, 
"considering  ourselves,  lest  we  also  be  tempted;  but  in  no 
"case  whatever,  shall  any  one  be  expelled  from  the  Society, 
"lest  it  should  prove  his  ruin.  How  greatly  preferable 
"  would  such  a  system  of  church  government  be  ?  *  >i<  * 
"Such,  then,  is  the  plan  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Free 
"Quakers  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia." 

Their  meetings  for  worship  were  at  first  held  in  private 
houses,  generally  in  the  house  of  the  clerk.  Afterwards,  they 
met  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  college  building  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania. 

At  their  meetings  for  business,  their  first  work  was  to  for- 
mulate a  Discipline,  or  plan  of  organization,  and  in  order  to 
obtain  the  assistance  of  all  such  disowned  Friends  as  might 
wish  to  join  in  the  work,  they  issued  on  the  fourth  day  of 


26 

the  sixth  month,  1781,  a  second  broadside  or  public  printed 
letter  to  "Our  Friends  and  Brethren  in  Pennsylvania,  New 
Jersey  and  elsewhere,"  stating  that  they  "conceived  it  to 
"be  a  duty  which  we  owe  to  ourselves,  our  children,  and 
"  families  to  establish  and  support  among  us  public  meetings 
"  for  religious  worship,  and  to  appoint  stated  meetings  for 
"conducting  the  affairs  of  the  Society,  upon  principles  as 
"liberal  and  enlarged  toward  one  another,  as  those  adopted 
"by  the  State  are  toward  all,"  and  inviting  "  the  advice  and 
"assistance  of  all  who  may  kindly  afford  us  their  counsel," 
This  letter  will  also  be  found  copied  at  length  in  the 
Appendix.  Having  sent  out  this  epistle  to  their  friends, 
they  continued  their  work  on  Discipline,  and  on  the  sixth 
day  of  the  eighth  month,  1781,  at  their  meeting  for  business, 
unanimously  agreed  to  it.  The  document  has  been  printed, 
and  a  clearer  or  more  forcibly  expressed  work  of  the  kind 
could  hardly  be  imagined.  It  is  so  filled  with  a  manly  spirit 
of  patriotism,  mingled  with  Christian  devotion,  and  also 
showing  a  due  sense  of  order  which  has  always  characterized 
the  Friends,  that  this  work  would  not  be  complete  unless  it 
be  transcribed  in  full. 
This,  then,  is 

''THE  DISCIPLINE. 


Society  of  Friends,  by  some  styled  the  Free  Quakers. 

Unanimously  agreed  to  hi  their  Meeting  for  Business,  held  in  Philadel- 
phia on  the  Sixth  day  of  the  Eighth  Month,  178 1. 

"The  Creator  of  man,  having  bestowed  upon  individuals 
"greater  and  less  natural  abilities,  and  opportunities  of  im- 
"  provement,  a  variety  of  sentiments  respecting   the  duties 


27 

"which  we  owe  to  him,  necessarily  arises  among  us,  and  it 
"becomes  essential  to  our  happiness,  that  we  may  perform 
"  those  duties  in  that  way  which  we  think  most  acceptable  to 
"him.  And  therefore,  when  w^e  contemplate  the  long  con- 
"  tinued  and  earnest  contest  which  has  been  maintained,  and 
"the  torrents  of  blood  which,  in  other  countries,  have  been 
"shed  in  defence  of  this  precious  privilege,  we  cannot  but 
"  acknowledge  it  to  be  a  signal  instance  of  the  immediate  care 
"  of  a  divine  providence  over  the  people  of  America,  that  he 
"has,  in  the  present  great  revolution,  thus  far  established 
"  among  us  governments,  under  which  no  man,  who  acknowl- 
"  edges  the  being  of  a  God,  can  be  abridged  of  any  civil 
"right  on  account  of  his  religious  sentiments;  while  other 
"  nations  who  see  and  lament  their  wretched  situation  are  yet 
"groaning  under  a  grievous  bondage.  But  governments 
"  established  upon  those  liberal,  just,  and  truly  christian  prin- 
"ciples,  and  wisely  confined  to  the  great  objects  of  ascer- 
"  taining  and  defending  civil  rights,  in  avoiding  the  possi- 
"  bility  of  wounding  the  conscience  of  any,  must  unavoidably 
"leave  some  cases  unprovided  for,  which  come  properly 
"under  the  care  of  religious  societies.  Hence  we  are  not 
"only  left  at  liberty  to  act  agreeably  to  our  sentiments;  but 
"the  necessity  and  obligation  of  establishing  and  supporting 
"religious  societies  are  increased  and  strengthened. 

"  We  acknowledge  the  kindness  of  providence  in  awaken- 
"  ing  us  to  a  view  of  the  deplorable  situation  in  which  we 
"have  been.  Disowned  and  rejected  by  those  among  whom 
"we  have  been  educated,  and  scattered  abroad,  as  if  we  had 
"been  aliens  in  a  strange  land,  the  prospect  of  our  situation 
"  has  indeed  humbled  us.  But  he  whose  mercy  endureth 
"  forever  has  preserved  us,  and  induced  us  to  confide  that  he 
"  will  care  for  us.    And  being  made  sensible  of  the  indispen- 


28 

"sable  necessity  of  uniting  together,  we  have  cast  our  care 
"upon  the  great  preserver  of  men,  and  depending  upon  him 
"  for  our  support,  conceive  it  to  be  a  duty  which  we  owe  to 
"ourselves,  our  children,  and  families,  to  establish  and  sup- 
"  port  among  us  public  meetings  for  religious  worship  ;  to 
"appoint  stated  meetings  for  conducting  the  affairs  of  the 
"  Society,  upon  principles  as  liberal  and  enlarged  toward  one 
"another,  as  those  adopted  by  the  state  are  toward  all,  and 
"  paying  a  due  regard  to  the  principles  of  our  forefathers, 
"and  the  spirit  of  the  wise  regulations  established  by  them, 
"  to  fix  upon  such  rules  as  may  enable  us  to  preserve  decency 
"and  good  order;  and  among  other  things,  to  agree  upon, 
"and  make  known  a  decent  form  of  marriage,  which  may  at 
"  once  secure  the  rights  of  parents  and  of  children ;  and  a 
"mode  of  forming  and  preserving  records  of  marriages, 
"  births,  and  burials. 

"Wherefore  after  mature  deliberation  it  was  unanimously 
"agreed  as  follows,  to  wit  : — 

"  First. — Meetings  for  public  worship  shall  be  established 
"and  kept  up.  The  time  and  place  of  holding  them  shall 
"  be  ordered  and  directed  by  the  meeting  for  business.  And 
"it  is  earnestly  recommended,  to  all  who  come  to  our  meet- 
"  ings  for  worship,  or  meetings  for  business,  to  attend  pre- 
"  cisely  at  the  time  appointed. 

"Secondly. — A  meeting  shall  be  held  monthly  for  conduct- 
"  ing  the  business  of  the  Society,  in  which  any  member  may 
"  freely  express  his  sentiments,  on  all  business  which  shall 
"  there  be  determined  or  considered.  In  this  meeting  una- 
"  nimity  and  harmony  ought  to  prevail,  and  where  any  differ- 
"ence  of  sentiment  may  appear,  charity  and  brotherly  con- 
"descension  ought  to  be  shown  to  one  another.  Minutes  of 
"all  the  proceedings  shall  be  kept,  and  for  this  purpose  a 


29 

"clerk  shall  be  appointed,  and  be  under  the  direction  of  the 
"meeting.  At  the  opening  of  each  meeting,  after  a  solemn 
"  pause  for  worship,  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  next  pre- 
"  ceding  shall  be  read. 

"  Thirdly. — Persons  intending  marriage  may,  either  in 
"person  or  by  a  friend,  inform  the  meeting  for  business  there- 
**of;  but  where  it  may  conveniently  be,  it  is  recommended, 
"  that  the  parties  proposing  marriage  do  attend  the  meeting 
"  before  which  the  proposal  is  made.  Whereupon  a  com- 
"  mittee  shall  be  appointed  to  enquire  concerning  their  clear- 
"ness  of  other  marriage  engagements,  consent  of  parents  or 
"  guardians  ;  and  such  other  matters  as  relate  to  the  proposed 
"marriage,  and  report  thereon  to  the  next  meeting.  No 
"reasonable  objection  appearing,  and  the  parties  as  afore- 
"  said  signifying  the  continuation  of  their  intentions,  the 
"  marriage  may  be  allowed  of,  and  two  persons  appointed  to 
"attend  the  decent  solemnization  thereof,  and  to  have  the 
"certificate  of  the  same  recorded  in  the  book  of  marriages. 

"  The  marriage  may  be  solemnized  at  a  public  meeting  for 
"worship;  or  at  the  house  of  either  of  the  parties;  or  at  the 
"  house  of  their  parents  or  friends,  as  the  parties  may  choose: 
"  but  it  is  recommended  that  the  same  be  preceded  by  a 
"  solemn  pause,  and  worship  to  God.  As  cases  may  probably 
"happen,  in  which  it  will  be  inconvenient  to  postpone  mar- 
"  riages  so  long  as  from  one  monthly  meeting  to  another,  in 
"such  cases  an  adjournment  of  the  meeting  may  be  made, 
"the  report  of  the  committee  received,  and  the  marriage  be 
"  allowed  of  as  aforesaid. 

"The  solemnization  is  recommended  to  be  after  the  fol- 
"  lowing  manner,  to  wit :  The  parties  standing  up  and  taking 
"  each  other  by  the  hand,  the  man  shall  declare  to  this  import : 
"  That  he  takes  the  woman,  naming  her  name,  to  be  his  wife, 


3° 

"and  will  be  unto  her  a  loving  and  faithful  husband  until 
"  death  shall  separate  them.  And  the  woman,  on  her  part, 
"shall  declare  to  the  import  That  she  takes  the  man,  naming 
"  his  name,  to  be  her  husband:  and  will  be  unto  him  a  loving 
"and  faithful  wife  until  death  shall  separate  them.  The  cer- 
"tificate  whereof  may  be  to  the  following  import,  to  wit: 
"  Whereas,  A.  B.,  of  C,  (expressing  also  his  title  or  occupa- 
"tion,)  son  of  C.  D.,  of  E.  and  F.  his  wife,  and  G.  H., 
"daughter  of  I.  K.,  of  L.,  and  M.,  his  wife,  having  laid 
"  their  intentions  of  marriage  with  each  other,  before  the 
"meeting  for  business  of  tlie  society  of  Friends,  styled  by 
"some  The  Free  Quakers,  held  at  N.,  the  same  were  allowed 
"of,  and  on  the  day  of  the  month,  in  the  year 

"of  our  Lord  (inserting  the  day,  month,  and  year),  the  said 
"  parties  appeared  at  a  meeting  appointed  for  the  solemniza- 
"  tion  of  the  said  marriage  (or  otherwise  as  the  case  may  be), 
"and  taking  each  other  by  the  hand,  the  said  A.  B.,  did,  in 
"a  solemn  manner,  declare  that  he  took  the  said  G.  H.,  to 
"be  his  wife,  and  promised  to  be  unto  her  a  loving  and 
"  faithful  husband  until  death  should  separate  them  :  And  the 
"said  G.  H.,  did  in  like  manner  declare,  that  she  took  the 
"  said  A.  B.  to  be  her  husband,  and  promised  to  be  unto 
"him  a  loving  and  faithful  wife  until  death  should  separate 
"  them.  And  in  confirmation  and  testimony  of  the  same, 
"they  the  said  A.  B.  and  G.  H.,  she  assuming  the  name  of 
"  her  husband,  did  then  and  there  to  these  presents  set 
"their  hands.  And  we,  whose  names  are  also  subscribed, 
"  being  present  at  the  said  marriage  and  subscription,  have, 
"as  witnesses  to  the  same,  hereunto  set  our  hands,  the  day 
"and  year  aforesaid. 

^^  Fourthly. — Records  shall  be  kept  of  all  marriages,  births, 
"and  burials  among  us.     And  as  these  records  may  be  of 


31 

''great  importance,  and  the  recording  of  births  and  burials 
"will  greatly  depend  on  the  care  of  individuals,  in  giving  an 
''account  thereof,  it  is  earnestly  recommended  to  all,  to  give 
"an  early  account  of  both,  mentioning  the  child's  name, 
"parentage,  and  day  of  its  birth;  and  the  name,  parentage, 
"title  or  occupation,  age,  and  day  of  decease,  as  well  of 
"  those  who  die  abroad,  when  the  same  can  be  ascertained, 
"as  of  those  who  die  among  us. 

^^  Fifthly. — Persons  desirous  of  joining  with  us  in  Society, 
"  signifying  the  same  to  the  meeting  for  business,  and  appear- 
"  ing  to  be  of  good  character,  may  be  admitted.  Whereupon 
"  they  may  give  in  the  names  and  ages  of  their  children,  to 
"be  recorded.  Should  any  choose  to  go  from  among  us,  a 
"  minute  thereof  may  be  entered  among  our  proceedings. 

^^  Sixthly. — In  cases  of  controversy  respecting  property,  a 
"reference  to  disinterested  men,  either  of  our  own  or  some 
"other  Society,  and  a  compliance  with  their  judgment,  may 
"be  recommended,  as  the  most  expeditious  and  least  expen- 
"sive  mode  of  terminating  such  disputes,  and  tending  to 
"  peace  and  harmony,  but,  it  shall  be  a  perpetual  rule  among 
"  us,  as  a  religious  society,  that  we  will  not  otherwise  inter- 
"  fere  in  controversies  between  one  man  and  another.  This 
"  rule  being  contrary  to  that  of  our  ancestors,  in  this  case  we 
"think  it  necessary  to  observe.  That  however  blameable  or 
"  even  "  shameful  "  it  might  have  been  in  the  Apostle's  day, 
"  for  brother  to  go  to  law  with  brother  "  before  the  un- 
"  believers,"  in  the  present  day,  when  the  State,  of  which 
"we  ourselves  are  members,  appoint  men  eminent  for  their 
"abilities  and  integrity,  to  judge  of  all  controversies,  and 
"  those  judges  being  themselves  Christians,  are  aided  by  juries 
"  of  Christians:  there  does  not  appear  any  just  cause  for  pro- 
"  hibiting  appeals  to  them:  on  the  contrary,  to  us  it  seems 


32 

"  to  be  indecent  and  unjust  to  speak  of  these  Christian  courts, 
"  as  the  Apostles  spake  of  those  of  "  the  unbelievers,"  and  as 
"the  Society  who  have  disowned  us  have  affected  to  speak 
"  of  the  courts  of  justice,  even  when  themselves  were  the 
"  officers,  jurors,  judges,  and  legislators. 

^^  Seventh. — As  brethren  each  may  counsel  and  advise  an- 
"  other  in  the  spirit  of  love  and  meekness,  as  he  may  see 
**  occasion,  remembering  always  that  he  also  may  be  tempted : 
"  but  leaving  guilt  to  be  punished  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  and 
*'  commending  those  who  err  to  the  grace  of  God,  no  public 
"  censures  shall  be  passed  by  us  on  any.  Neither  shall  a 
"  member  be  deprived  of  his  right  among  us,  on  account  of 
"  his  differing  in  sentiment  from  any  or  all  of  his  brethren." 

This  paper  is  as  remarkable  in  its  utterances  as  in  its 
omissions.  One  searches  through  it  in  vain  for  any  creed 
or  protestation  of  faith  ;  and  the  Discipline  would  be  almost 
as  suitable,  in  its  simple  arrangements,  for  a  society  of  ancient 
Greek  philosophers.  The  society  was  from  its  origin  de- 
voutly and  earnestly  Christian,  but  they  were  Quakers,  and 
their  disownment  having  been  only  for  civil  or  political 
cause,  and  not  on  any  ground  of  religious  difference,  their 
belief  on  all  main  points  was  already  so  clearly  understood 
that  no  publication  of  it  was  deemed  needful  or  advisable. 

The  Discipline  however  points  clearly  to  the  main  grounds 
wherein  they  differed  from  Friends.  The  closing  statement 
"Neither  shall  a  member  be  deprived  of  his  right  among 
"  us  on  account  of  his  differing  in  sentiment  from  any  or 
"  all  of  his  brethren,"  is  an  assurance  of  religious  freedom 
which  no  other  Christian  sect  has  ever  given  to  its  followers. 

These  publications  attracted  considerable  attention  at  the 
time,  especially  among  Friends,  and  members  of  that  So- 
ciety  in    other   States  who  had  suffered  disownment   began 


33 

to  organize  and  meet  in  the  same  manner.  In  Chester 
County  in  Pennsylvania,  at  West  River  in  Maryland,  even 
as  far  as  Massachusetts,  Free  Quaker  meetings  began  to 
spring  up,  and  a  regular  correspondence  between  these 
Friends  and  the  Philadelphia  meeting  seems  to  have  existed. 
Meanwhile  the  Society  in  Philadelphia  was  much  incon- 
venienced for  want  of  some  suitable  place  in  which  to  hold 
their  meetings  for  worship  and  business.  Application  was 
made  to  the  Friends  who  had  disowned  them  for  leave  to  use 
one  of  the  meeting  houses  of  that  Society,  but  this  was 
refused.  The  Free  Quakers  consulted  thereon,  and,  holding 
that  their  expulsion  had  been  mainly  caused  by  political 
differences,  with  which  a  religious  sect  as  such  had  nothing 
to  do,  and  as  they  had  been  disowned  for  simply  obeying  the 
laws  and  devoting  their  lives  and  property  to  the  service  of 
their  country,  they  conceived  that  their  disownment  for  such 
causes  gave  their  orthodox  brethren  no  right  to  exclude  them 
from  the  joint  use  of  the  meeting  houses  and  burial  ground 
of  the  Quakers.  In  this  view  many  persons  who  were  not 
of  that  Society  agreed  with  them,  for  the  Whig  Quakers,  or 
Fighting  Quakers,  as  they  were  called,  had  the  sympathies 
of  the  people  with  them.  Thus  cheered,  they  prepared  a 
formal  printed  letter,  "From  the  Monthly  Meeting  of 
Friends,  called  by  some  the  Free  Quakers,  held  by  adjourn- 
ment at  Philadelphia,  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  seventh 
month,  1781 :  To  those  of  our  Brethren  who  have  disowned 
us,"  which  states  the  differences  that  had  arisen  and  pro- 
ceeds: "We  think  it  proper  for  us  to  use,  apart  from  you, 
"one  of  the  houses  built  by  Friends  in  this  city  for  those 
"purposes;"  *  *  *  *  "and  therefore  we  thus  invite 
"  you  to  the  opportunity  of  showing  what  degree  of  kindness 
"  and  brotherly  love  toward  us  still  remains  among  you. 
3 


34 

"We  also  mean  to  use  the  burial  ground  whenever  the  occa- 
"  sion  shall  require  it;  for,  however  the  living  may  contend, 
"surely  the  dead  may  lie  peaceably  together." 

The  original  letter-  was  presented  by  Timothy  Matlack, 
Moses  Bartram,  and  White  Matlack,  to  the  Monthly  Meeting 
of  Friends  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of 
seventh  month,  1781.  On  the  back  of  the  letter  is  a  memo- 
randum, evidently  made  by  some  member  of  the  Meeting 
to  whom  it  was  delivered,  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Quakers 
thereupon  and  the  verbal  answer  which  it  was  agreed  should  be 
made  to  Timothy  Matlack  or  "either  of  the  persons  who 
attended  with  him,"  and  which  was  done  accordingly. 
Probably  by  some  mistake,  the  original  letter  was  returned, 
together  with  the  endorsed  memorandum,  so  we  know  just 
what  the  verbal  answer  was.     It  ran  as  follows  : — 

"We  have  considered  the  contents  of  the  paper  presented 
"to  our  last  meeting  by  Timothy  Matlack  and  others,  and 
"are  of  the  judgment  that  it  is  improper  to  be  read  in  the 
"  Meeting,  of  which  we  think  the  parties  concerned  will 
"have  grounds  to  be  convinced,  on  a  cool  and  dispassionate 
"reconsideration,  of  the  requisition  they  make."  [For  a 
full  copy  see  Appendix,  No.  3.] 

This  answer  amounting,  to  a  final  refusal,  the  Free  Quakers 
applied  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  alleging  their  right 
and  stating  that  they  and  others  had  been  disowned  by  the 
leading  men  of  that  Society  on  various  pretences,  among 
them  the  following:  — 

"Some  have  been  disowned  for  affirming  allegiance  to 
"the  State  in  compliance  with  the  laws,  and  their  elders 
"and  overseers  have  proposed  and  insisted  on  a  renun- 
"  ciation  of  that  allegiance  as  a  condition  of  reunion  with 
"them. 


"  Some  for  holding  office  under  the  State,  and  some  for 
"  holding  office  under  the  United  States. 

"  Many  for  bearing  arms  in  defence  of  our  invaded 
"country,  although  the  laws  of  the  State  enjoined  and 
"  required  it  of  them. 

"And  some  have  been  disowned  for  having  paid  the  taxes 
"  required  of  them  by  law ;"  and  they  closed  by  praying  for 
leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  recognizing  the  rights  of  persons 
disowned  by  the  people  called  Quakers,  to  hold  in  common 
with  them  the  estates  owned  by  them,  and  the  right  to 
search  and  copy  their  records.  This  petition  virtually 
charged  the  managers  of  the  Quaker  Society  with  acting  in 
complicity  with  the  royalists  and  treasonably  against  the 
American  government.  This  petition  was  signed  by  about 
fifty  men,  and  was  presented  to  the  Legislature  on  the 
twenty-first  of  December,  17S1.  [A  copy  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix,  No.  4.] 

This  petition  was  answered  by  an  address  and  memorial  on 
behalf  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  signed  the  eighteenth 
of  First  Month,  1782,  by  John  Drinker,  clerk  of  their  meeting, 
and  which  was  probably  presented  to  the  Legislature  at  about 
the  time  of  its  date.  This  denies  any  treasonable  intent  by 
the  Quakers,  and  sets  forth  that  in  disowning  the  members  as 
charged  they  had  simply  acted  upon  the  rules  of  their  Society 
and  well  established  discipline,  and  that  in  so  doing  they  had 
only  exercised  that  degree  of  religious  freedom  which  was 
guaranteed  to  all  bodies  of  Christians  by  the  law,  and  that  in 
refusing  to  join  in  warlike  measures  in  support  of  political 
freedom,  they  were  only  obeying  their  consciences  and  the 
Divine  Command,  according  to  their  understanding. 

And  so  the  Commonwealth  in  its  first  days  was  presented 
with  the  question  :      How  far  is  the  exercise  of  freedom  in 


36 

matters   of  religion    to   be  considered   an    excuse   for   non- 
compliance with  the  laws  of  the  land. 

On  the  one  hand  it  was  urged  that  the  liberty  of  every 
man  to  worship  God,  and  in  matters  of  religion  to  act  accord- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  was  solemnly  guaranteed 
by  law,  from  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  the  colony  by 
William  Penn.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  argued  with  equal 
earnestness,  that  where  the  State  is  in  danger  she  has  a  right 
to  call  upon  all  her  citizens  for  support,  and  to  punish  any 
who  make  their  conscientious  scruples  an  excuse  for  disobedi- 
ence. The  question  was  not  only  debated  in  the  Legislature, 
but  also  with  considerable  earnestness  in  the  public  press  ; 
several  broadsides  and  small  pamphlets  were  published  at 
about  this  time  on  the  subject.  The  several  memorials  to  the 
legislature  were  very  able  statements,  from  the  supporters  of 
each  side  of  the  controversy,  though  it  is  rather  sad  to  note, 
that  the  affectation  of  a  Christian  meekness  in  their  language, 
really  covered  great  bitterness  of  spirit  on  both  sides.  The 
legislature  very  wisely  refused  to  decide  the  question,  or  place 
any  written  limits  either  to  the  right  of  the  government  to 
demand  support,  or  of  tender  consciences  to  have  special 
respect  and  favor.  And  the  question  has  not  been  decided 
to  the  present  time,  but  remains  open  ;  so  that  each  case  may 
be  decided  on  the  merit  of  its  particular  facts.  As  to  the 
petition  of  the  Free  Quakers,  it  was  tabled,  and  nothing  fur- 
ther was  done  during  that  session  of  the  legislature.  The 
matter  was  revived  however,  at  the  next  session,  by  a  memo- 
rial and  remonstrance  presented  by  Isaac  Howell  and  White 
Matlack,  which  set  out  their  claims  and  those  of  the  other 
Friends  disowned  on  political  grounds,  at  length,  and  repeated 
the  prayer  of  the  petition  which  had  been  presented  before. 
This  address  was  presented  in  the  House  of  Representatives 


37 

on  August  21,  1782,  entered  on  the  journal  at  length  and 
referred  to  a  special  committee.  To  the  public  interest  caused 
by  this  address  we  are  indebted,  as  one  result  was  that  the 
answer  of  the  Quakers  to  the  original  petition  was  published 
and  a  printed  copy  has  been  preserved.  It,  together  with  the 
remonstrance  of  Howell  and  Matlack,  will  be  found  in  the 
Appendix.  The  committee,  however,  took  no  action  and  the 
legislature  did  nothing  in  the  matter.  Isaac  Howell  pre- 
sented a  short  petition,  asking  the  consideration  of  the  House 
to  the  subject,  early  in  1783,  and  this  was  accompanied  by  a 
letter  signed  by  thirty-seven  of  the  disowned  Quakers,  joining 
in  the  request  of  the  petition,  but  the  legislature  adjourned 
without  taking  any  action. 

Meanwhile,  however,  Cornwallis  had  surrendered  to  Gen- 
eral Washington,  the  English  forces  had  abandoned  New 
York,  the  revolutionary  war  had  come  to  an  end  by  virtue 
of  the  treaty  with  England  which  acknowledged  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  American  Colonies,  and  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania became  a  sovereign  power.  The  Whigs  having 
thus  won  their  cause,  felt  a  strong  sympathy  with  those 
of  the  Quakers  who  had  suffered  disownment  by  the  religious 
society  in  which  they  were  born,  for  the  sake  of  their  attach- 
ment to  the  new  republic  just  being  established.  Prominent 
citizens  felt  and  said  that  the  disowned  Friends  had  been  hard- 
ly and  unjustly  dealt  with.  The  Free  Quakers  began  to  raise 
money  and  take  steps  to  build  a  meeting  house  for  themselves, 
and  Samuel  Wetherill,  White  Matlack,  Jehu  Eldridge  and 
Isaac  Howell,  were  on  June  16,  1783,  appointed  a  committee 
to  find  a  suitable  lot  of  ground  on  which  to  build.  And  on 
the  seventh  day  of  July,  1783,  Samuel  Wetherill  on  behalf  of 
the  committee,  reported  to  a  meeting  for  business  that  he  had 
obtained  a  lot  suitable  for  the  purpose  at  the  southwest  corner 


38 

of  Fifth  and  Mulberry,  or  Arch  Streets,  in  front  on  Mulberry 
Street  forty-eight  feet,  in  depth  on  Fifth  Street  sixty  feet, 
which  he  held  ready  to  convey  to  trustees.  The  Society  of 
Free  Quakers,  thereupon  approved  the  action  of  their  com- 
mittee, and  appointed  a  Board  of  Trustees  to  accept  from 
Samuel  Wetherill  a  conveyance  of  the  lot.  The  following 
were  the  Trustees: — 

Christopher  Marshall,  Sr.,  Gentleman, 
Nathaniel  Browne,  Blacksmith, 
Isaac  Howell,  Esquire, 
Peter  Thomson,  Conveyancer, 
Moses  Bartram,  Druggist, 
Jonathan  Scholfield,  Shop-keeper, 
Benjamin  Say,  Practitioner  in  Physic, 
Joseph  Warner,  Last  Maker,  and 
Abraham  Roberts,  Grocer. 

And  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  same  month,  a  deed  of  the  lot 
was  duly  executed  to  them  accordingly,  in  trust  "to  and  for 
"  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  Religious  Society  of  People, 
"  distinguished  and  known  by  the  name  of  Free  Quakers,  in 
"  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  to  erect  and  build  a  meeting  house 
"  thereon,  and  therein  to  meet,  for  the  solemn  worship  of 
"  Almighty  God,  the  Creator,  Upholder,  and  Ruler  of  the 
"Universe."  And  they  at  once  and  unanimously  resolved 
to  build  a  meeting  house  thereon,  and  forward  a  subscription 
to  defray  the  expense  of  so  doing,  and  "  a  disposition  to  aid 
us  appearing  to  be  general,"  as  the  minutes  state,  at  the  next 
meeting  they  somewhat  enlarged  the  plan  of  their  building,  and 
appointed  White  Matlack  treasurer,  directing  him  to  "  keep  all 
money  received  and  to  be  received  by  him  in  the  bank." 
The  Bank  of  North  America,  then  newly  established,  which 
was  incorporated.  May  26,  1781,  and  began  active  business 
January  7,  1782,  is  undoubtedly  referred  to,  for  the  Pennsyl- 


39 

vania  Bank,  which  had  been  founded  in  1780  to  make  the 
necessary  arrangements  to  supply  the  American  army  with  the 
munitions  of  war,  was  never  a  bank  of  general  deposit,  and 
was  at  this  time  preparing  to  wind  up  its  affairs,  and  these 
two  were  then  the  only  banks  in  the  United  States,  and 
Timothy  Matlack  was  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  North 
America  at  its  formation. 

The  subscription  prospered  ;  among  the  contributors  to  the 
building  fund  were  Washington,  Franklin,  and  a  number  of 
other  distinguished  patriots,  and  the  Meeting  House  was  built 
accordingly.  When  the  wall  was  nearly  finished,  and  the 
marble  tablet  was  about  being  built  into  its  place,  one  of  the 
Free  Quakers  was  asked  why  the  words  "  in  the  year  of  the 
"Empire  8"  were  inserted.  He  answered,  "I  tell  thee, 
"  Friend,  it  is  because  our  country  is  destined  to  be  the  great 
"  empire  over  all  this  world." 

One  little  circumstance  illustrating  the  customs  that  then 
prevailed  may  perhaps  be  mentioned.  The  religious  people 
of  that  day  had  not  yet  taken  the  earnest  stand  in  regard  to 
the  use  of  alcoholic  drink  which  has  since  distinguished  the 
Society  of  Friends ;  the  query  was  still  asked  at  their  yearly 
and  other  meetings,  "Whether  Friends  were  careful  to  keep 
"their  laborers  in  harvest  and  elsewhere  duly  supplied  with 
"spirits,"  and  the  Free  Quakers,  on  this  subject  at  least,  agreed 
with  their  orthodox  brethren.  When  the  roof  of  the  Meeting 
House  was  completed,  in  1784,  refreshment  was  provided  to 
the  laborers,  and  the  receipted  bill  for  the  rum,  lemons  and 
sugar,  with  which  they  were  entertained,  is  preserved  to  this 
day  among  the  papers  of  the  Society. 

The  Meeting  House  was  completed  early  in  1784,  and 
worship  was  first  held  in  it  on  the  thirteenth  of  June  in  that 
year,  and  regularly  thereafter  on  every  Sunday  for  many  years. 


40 

The  notes  of  the  meetings  for  business  continue  during  this 
period  to  show  considerable  correspondence  with  the  dis- 
owned Friends  of  Massachusetts,  several  of  whom  visited  the 
Society  in  Philadelphia,  and  Samuel  Wetherill  at  about  this 
time  went  on  a  religious  visit  to  these  Friends  and  was  absent 
for  several  months.  It  seems  that  meetings  on  similar  princi- 
ples to  the  Society  in  Philadelphia  were  organized  at  Long 
Plain,  near  Dartmouth,  at  Rochester,  and  elsewhere. 

The  Society,  though  now  prospering,  was  without  any  grave- 
yard ;  but  in  1786  a  law  was  passed,  vesting  certain  city  lots 
in  trustees  for  a  burial  ground  for  the  use  of  the  Society. 
This  act  was  passed  August  26,  1786,  and  recites  that  it  is 
but  right  and  just  to  forward  the  "  designs  of  religion  and 
''benevolence,  and  that  the  virtuous  citizens  of  this  common- 
"  wealth  who  have  been  deprived  of  their  religious  rights  and 
"privileges  on  account  of  their  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
"  their  country  in  the  time  of  its  utmost  danger,  should  have 
"  the  encouragement  of  the  Legislature,"  and  proceeds  to 
grant  public  city  lots  Nos.  34  to  41,  on  west  side  of  Fifth 
Street  below  Locust  Street,  to  "  Christopher  Marshall,  Joseph 
"  Stiles,  Nathaniel  Browne,  Isaac  Howell,  Peter  Thomson, 
"Benjamin  Say,  and  Joseph  Warner,  and  the  survivors  and 
"survivor  of  them,  and  the  heirs  and  assigns  of  such  survivor 
"  forever  :  In  trust,  nevertheless,  to  and  for  the  sole  purpose 
"  of  a  burial  ground  for  the  use  of  the  Religious  Society  of 
"  Friends  distinguished  and  known  by  the  name  of  Free 
"Quakers,  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia." 

Being  now  established  with  all  the  property  and  rights 
usual  to  religious  societies,  the  Free  Quakers  entered  upon  a 
prosperous  career.  Their  meetings  for  worship  were  well 
attended  ;  the  upper  room  of  their  meeting  house  was  rented 
at  first  to  the  Masonic  Lodge  of  which  Washington  was  a 


41 

member,  and  afterwards  to  one  Benjamin  Tucker,  who  kept  a 
school  there,  and  the  rents  thus  obtained  were  formed  into  a 
fund  for  the  charitable  relief  of  the  poor  members  of  the  So- 
ciety. And  the  history  of  the  meeting  soon  became,  as 
shown  by  the  minutes,  almost  as  peaceful  and  uneventful  as 
that  of  the  Orthodox  Friends  who  had  disowned  them. 
Meanwhile,  the  political  differences  which  had  caused  their 
separation  from  the  Orthodox  Friends  were  fast  disappearing. 
After  1783  the  query,  "Are  Friends  careful  not  to  defraud 
the  King  of  his  dues?"  was  not  asked  in  their  yearly  and 
other  meetings,  and  they  gladly  joined  with  their  more 
enterprising  fellow  citizens  in  obedience  to  the  republican 
form  of  government,  and  in   1789  their  yearly  meeting  sent 

a  letter  to  Washington  on  the  occasion  of  his  inauguration 

« 
as    President,    congratulating   him,    and   wishing   long  life 

and  prosperity  both  to  him  and  his  "amiable  consort." 
Washington  replied  in  courteous  terms  to  this  address, 
which  marks  the  complete  and  loyal  recognition  by  the 
Quakers  of  the  American  government,  which  that  people  have 
always  since  maintained.  And  while  they  did  not  formally 
amend  their  discipline,  in  the  matter  of  disownment,  they, 
and  indeed  all  bodies  of  Christians,  have  since  become  so 
liberal  and  merciful  to  the  shortcomings  of  individual  mem- 
bers, that  it  may  almost  be  said  that  the  doctrines  of  Free 
Quakers  on  this  point  are  now  generally  accepted  everywhere. 
The  Friends,  however,  could  not  bring  themselves  into  har- 
mony with  the  Free  Quakers,  and  in  1790  sent  word  to 
Samuel  Wetherill  forbidding  him  to  speak  in  their  grave-yard, 
to  which  he  replied  in  a  letter  to  their  ministers'  meeting,  stat- 
ing his  intention  at  all  proper  times  and  places  to  bear  his 
testimony  in  the  cause  of  virtue  and  truth,  of  which  a  copy 
will  be  found  in  the  Appendix.     It  seems  also  that  he  was 


42 

spoken  of  as  an  infidel,  to  which  charges  he  replied  by  writing 
a  pamphlet  entitled,  '*  The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  Proved." 
As  the  political  differences  died  away,  some  of  the  revolu- 
tionary soldiers  made  acknowledgment  to  their  meetings  and 
were  received  back  into  membership  with  Friends,  and  so 
before  long  the  Free  Quakers,  never  a  very  large  body, 
became  comparatively  few  in  number ;  held  together  princi- 
pally by  the  talent  and  exertions  of  their  clerk  and  preacher, 
Samuel  Wetherill ;  he  served  the  society  as  clerk  until  Sep- 
tember ist,  1808,  when  he  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  of  the  same  name,  and  he  continued  active  in  the  minis- 
try until  his  death,  in  his  eighty-first  year,  in  18 16.  Before 
his  death  the  disowned  Friends  of  Maryland,  Massachusetts, 
and  Ohio,  had  all  died,  or  been  taken  back  into  their  meet- 
ings, and  the  Free  Quakers  were  a  small  and  rapidly  dimin- 
ishing band  of  the  revolutionary  heroes  of  Philadelphia. 
Religious  worship  was  faithfully  observed  "by  them  every 
Sunday.  Clement  Biddle  died  in  1813.  Samuel  Wetherill, 
Jr.,  died  in  1829.  Timothy  Matlack,  removed  from  the  city, 
and  died  in  1829,  at  Holmesburg,  in  the  looth  year  of  his  age. 
Elizabeth  Claypoole,  the  last  survivor  of  the  original  mem- 
bers, died  in  1836.  The  families  of  the  first  members  ceased 
to  attend  Sunday  meetings,  and  John  Price  Wetherill,  who 
succeeded  his  father  as  clerk,  after  worshipping  nearly  alone 
for  several  years,  closed  the  meeting  for  the  last  time,  and 
meetings  for  religious  worship  ceased  about  1836. 


43 


III.  The  Modern  Period. 

When  the  meetings  for  worship  of  the  Free  Quaker  Society- 
came  to  an  end,  the  Society  would  ahnost  certainly  soon  have 
been  disbanded  and  become  extinct,  like  the  similar  societies 
in  other  parts  of  the  country,  had  it  not  been  for  the  wisdom 
and  energy  of  the  clerk,  John  Price  Wetherill. 

He  recognized  that  a  religious  sense  of  devotion  may  be  as 
well  expressed  in  an  honest  life  and  in  charitable  works  as  by 
formally  attending  church  or  meeting  at  fixed  intervals  of 
time,  and  that,  as  by  the  growth  of  the  city  and  the  removal 
of  the  members  to  a  distance,  it  became  inconvenient  to  attend 
religious  meetings,  they  ought  still  in  some  organized  and  dis- 
tinct form  to  work  as  a  charity,  thereby  recognizing  that 
charity  conducted  on  a  proper  motive  is  religion  and  worship, 
which  Friends  have  always  believed.  Almost  immediately 
upon  his  becoming  clerk,  in  1S29,  he  perfected  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  charitable  committee  in  the  Society,  to  use  its  income 
in  some  way  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  first  of  the  Society, 
and  then  for  the  poor  generally,  and  when  the  cessation  of 
formal  meetings  for  religious  worship  left  the  Society  in 
possession  of  a  vacant  building,  his  practical  disposition  soon 
turned  it  to  good  account.  Several  years  before,  a  number 
of  public-spirited  citizens  had  joined  in  forming  a  library, 
primarily  for  the  use  of  the  apprentices  and  young  persons 
employed  in  the  city,  but  also  for  the  use  of  any  orderly 
person  who  might  wish  to  study.  This  was, then,  and  for 
many  years  continued  to  be,  the  only  free  library  in  the  city, 
and  the  amount  of  good  it  has  done  in  helping  the  education 
and  instruction  of  the  working  people  would  be  difficult  to 
estimate.     At  the  request  of  its  managers  an  arrangement  was 


44 

made  between  the  Apprentice's  Library  Company  and  the 
Free  Quakers,  in  1841,  by  which  the  Meeting  House  was 
rented  to  them  for  use  as  a  library  for  a  term  of  years,  paying 
nominally  fifty  dollars  per  annum,  but  with  the  proviso  that 
this  money  should  not  be  paid  to  the  land  owners,  but  be 
invested  in  good  and  useful  books  each  year,  a  list  of  which 
should  be  sent  to  the  Free  Quakers  instead  of  rent ;  in  1868, 
after  several  renewals  of  the  original  lease,  a  lease  upon  a 
small  moneyed  rent  for  a  term  of  twenty-five  years  was  entered 
into,  which  by  subsequent  renewals  is  still  (1894)  in  force. 
The  rent  received  from  this  source  and  the  income  generally 
has  always  been  applied  by  the  Society  to  the  charitable  relief 
of  its  own  poor  members,  and  then  for  the  deserving  poor  of 
Philadelphia  generally,  so  that  this  Society  has  helped  the 
good  work  of  instruction  and  education  of  many  thousands 
of  poor  children,  and  has  given  assistance  amounting  to 
thousands  of  dollars  to  the  poor  of  the  city,  which  work  is 
still  being  conducted.  It  pays  no  salaries,  every  one  serves 
gratuitously.  It  has  very  few  expenses.  It  makes  no  loud 
protestations.  Its  name  is  withdrawn  from  publication  rather 
than  advertised  as  to  its  good  works,  but  the  committee 
founded  in  1829  has  ever  since  worked  faithfully  to  relieve 
the  sufferings  of  the  deserving  poor  of  the  city.  Its  labors 
during  the  winter  just  over  (1894),  and  in  the  present 
distressed  condition  of  the  working  people  of  our  city,  have 
been  very  great  and  are  still  continuing.  So  that  the  Society 
still  lives  as  a  true  and  active  religious  body,  laboring  on  a 
charitable  basi^  so  far  as  it  is  able. 

After  the  death  of  John  Price  Wetherill  in  1853,  the  Soci- 
ety for  a  number  of  years  held  very  few  meetings;  the  work 
being  done  by  the  Committee  on  Charity,  but  in  1882,  John 
Price  Wetherill,  Jr.,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  as  clerk. 


45 

called  the  Society  together,  and  it  was  then  resolved  to  hold 
a  meeting  at  least  once  a  year,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of 
November  ;  and  this  rule  has  since  been  followed,  regular 
yearly  meetings  having  ever  since  been  held.  This  has  very 
much  revived  the  interest  of  the  members,  and  the  Society 
under  the  leadership  of  William  H.  Wetherill,  its  present 
clerk,  is  now  increasing  in  numbers  and  activity. 

On  one  point  the  members  of  the  Society  have  certainly 
lived  up  to  the  precepts  of  their  patriotic  founders.  In 
every  war  since  the  Revolution  in  which  the  United  States 
has  been  engaged,  involving  resistance  to  invasion  either  by 
foreign  enemy  or  domestic  traitor,  the  members  of  this 
Society  have  done  faithful  service.  In  the  revolt  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  known  as  the  "Whiskey  Insurrection,"  Col. 
Clement  Biddle,  rendered  very  active  service.  In  the  war 
of  1812,  one  certainly,  and  several  more  probably,  served 
in  the  campaign  for  the  defence  of  Baltimore  and  were 
present  at  the  bombardment  which  inspired  the  writing  of 
the  National  Hymn.  Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
for  the  Union,  the  treasurer  of  the  Society,  too  old  for 
military  service  himself,  raised  and  equipped  a  company 
of  soldiers  at  his  sole  expense  and  presented  them  ready 
for  service  to  the  State ;  and  several  of  the  trustees  and 
active  members  joined  the  Union  army  and  served  with 
distinction  before  Lynchburg,  Petersburg,  and  Richmond  ; 
one  of  them,  afterwards  for  several  years  treasurer  of  the 
Society,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  survived  not  only  the 
dangers  of  battle,  but  the  sufferings  of  Libby  Prison. 
When  the  soil  of  Pennsylvania  was  invaded  by  the  South- 
ern armies,  they  were  present  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  and 
Free  Quakers  helped  to  drive  the  enemy  down,  with  terrible 
slaughter,  from  the  "  high-water  mark  of  the  Rebellion." 


46 

The  youngest  of  its  trustees,  too  young  to  serve  in  the 
war  for  the  Union,  has  done  active  service  in  the  National 
Guard  of  the  State  on  the  only  occasions,  since  the  rebellion, 
in  which  the  service  of  soldiers  has  been  needed  in  Pennsyl- 
vania :  in  the  battle  at  the  round  house  in  Pittsburgh,  in  1877, 
and  at  the  siege  of  Homestead,  in  1892. 

Wherever  the  flag  of  the  Union — the  flag  that  was  first 
made  by  a  Free  Quaker  woman — has  been  fired  upon  by  an 
enemy,  Free  Quakers  have  gone  to  defend  the  great  republic 
that  their  forefathers  risked  "  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and 
their  sacred  honor  "  to  found. 

And  these  few  historical  notes  may  well  close  with  the 
hope  that  this  venerable  Society  may  survive  in  its  modest 
usefulness  to  see  our  country  become,  as  is  foretold  on  the 
tablet  of  its  old  meeting  house,  "  the  great  Empire  over  all 
"  this  world." 


Appendix  No.  i 


AN  ADDRESS 


To  those  of  the  People  called  Quakers,  who  have  been  disowned  for 
Matters  Religious  or  Civil. 

Friends  afici Fellow-Sufferers. — The  scattered  and  distressed 
situation  in  which  we  have  been  for  some  time  past,  having 
occasioned  great  inconvenience  to  most  of  us,  a  small  number 
of  men,  educated  among  the  people  called  Quakers,  as  you 
have  been,  have  met  together  and  seriously  considered  our 
circumstances. 

This  separation  has  not  been  sought  by,  but  forced  upon, 
us,  as  the  pride  and  folly  of  former  churches,  vainly  attempt- 
ing to  abridge  the  rights  of  conscience,  excommunicated 
their  brethren  from  among  them.  And  there  appears  no 
reasonable  ground  of  expectation  that  we  shall  ever  again  be 
united  to  those  who  have  disowned  us ;  for  they  will  not  per- 
mit among  them  that  Christian  liberty  of  sentiment  and  con- 
duct which  all  are  entitled  to  enjoy,  and  which  we  cannot 
consent  to  part  with.  You  know  that  many  have  been  dis- 
owned by  that  people  for  no  other  cause  than  a  faithful  dis- 
charge of  those  duties  which  we  owe  to  our  country. 

Thus  situated,  and  acknowledging  our  dependence  upon 
the  Supreme  Being,  and  the  duty  of  public  worship  which  we 
owe  to  him,  we  have  lamented  the  loss  of  those  advantages 
which  arise  from  religious  communion,  and  have  feared  still 
greater  loss  in  this  respect,  to  our  children  and  families.  And 
47 


48 

therefore,  although  we  know  that  "weakness  is  ours,"  and 
that  difficulties  and  dangers  surround  us  on  every  hand,  con- 
fiding in  the  gracious  promise  of  the  Great  Shepherd  of  his 
people,  that  he  would  "be  with"  even  "two  or  three," 
wheresoever  they  are  met  together  in  his  name,  we  have 
agreed,  that  as  Friends  and  brethren,  we  will  endeavor  to 
support  and  maintain  public  meetings  for  religious  worship. 

We  have  no  new  doctrine  to  teach,  nor  any  design  of  pro- 
moting schisms  in  religion.  We  wish  only  to  be  freed  from 
every  species  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  and  mean  to  pay  a  due 
regard  to  the  principles  of  our  forefathers,  and  to  their  rules 
and  regulations  so  far  as  they  apply  to  our  circumstances,  and 
hope,  thereby,  to  preserve  decency  and  to  secure  equal  liberty 
to  all.  We  have  no  design  to  form  creeds  or  confessions  of 
faith,  but  humbly  to  confide  in  those  sacred  lessons  of  wisdom 
and  benevolence,  which  have  been  left  us  by  Christ  and  His 
apostles,  contained  in  the  holy  scriptures  ;  and  appealing  to 
that  divine  principle  breathed  by  the  breath  of  God  into  the 
hearts  of  all,  to  leave  every  man  to  think  and  judge  for  him- 
self, according  to  the  abilities  received,  and  to  answer  for  his 
faith  and  opinions  to  him,  who  "  seeth  the  secrets  of  all 
hearts,"  the  sole  Judge  and  sovereign  Lord  of  conscience. 

And  feeling  for  you,  as  fellow-sufferers,  a  sympathy  and 
brotherly  affection,  we  think  it  our  duty  thus  to  communicate 
to  you  what  we  have  done  and  are  about  to  do,  that  you  may, 
if  you  choose,  partake  with  us  in  the  blessings  we  seek  and 
hope  to  obtain.  As  brethren  indeed,  united  in  affliction, 
"let  us  (agreeably  to  the  counsel  given  by  the  Apostle  Paul) 
"  consider  one  another,  to  provoke  unto  love  and  to  good 
"works;  not  forsaking  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together, 
"  as  the  manner  of  some  is,  but  exhorting  one  another.  And 
"  so  much  the  more  as  ye  see  the  day  approaching."     Be  en- 


49 

couraged,  and  let  us  meet  together  and  ask  bread  from  him  in 
whose  hand  it  is,  with  an  humble  hope,  that  he  who  giveth 
food  "  to  the  young  ravens  which  cry  "  will  provide  also  for 
us.  And  in  this  hope  we  salute  you  with  unfeigned  affection. 
Signed  in  and  on  behalf  of  the  meeting, 

Samuel  Wetherill,  Jun.,   C/erk. 

Philadelphia,  24^/1  of  the  4th  Month,  1781. 

[Printed  by  Francis  Bailbv.] 


Appendix  No.  2. 

The  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends,  called  by  some 
THE   FREE    QUAKERS, 

{Distinguishing  us  from  those  of  our  Brethren  who  have  disowned  us.) 

Held  at  Philadelphia,  the  4TH  day  of  the  6th  month,  1781. 

To  OUR  Friends  and  Brethren  in  Pennsylvania,  New 
Jersey  and  elsewhere:  — 

Dear  Friends. — Agreeable  to  the  intimations  given  to  you 
in  our  late  "Address  to  those  of  the  People  called  Quakers, 
who  have  been  disowned  for  matters  religious  or  civil,"  we 
have  for  some  time  past  held  two  meetings  for  public  worship 
on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  a  meeting  for  conducting  the 
business  of  the  society,  on  the  first  second  day  of  the  week  in 
each  month.  These  meetings  having  afforded  us  great  satis- 
faction, we  shall  continue  them,  with  a  firm  hope  that  the 
blessing  of  heaven  will,  "as  the  dew  of  Hermon,"  descend 
in  silence  upon  them. 

In  our  deliberations  on  this  subject  we  have  been  led  to 
consider  "That  the  Creator  of  man  having  bestowed  upon 
individuals  greater  and  less  natural  abilities  and  opportuni- 
ties of  improvement,  a  variety  of  sentiments  respecting  the 
duties  which  we  owe  to  him  necessarily  arises  among  us,  and 
it  becomes  essential  to  our  happiness  that  we  may  perform 
those  duties  in  that  way  which  we  think  the  most  acceptable 
to  him.  And  therefore  when  we  contemplate  the  long  and 
50 


51 

earnest  contest  which  has  been  maintained,  and  the  torrents 
of  blood  which,  in  other  countries,  have  been  shed  in  defence 
of  this  precious  privilege,  we  cannot  but  acknowledge  it  to 
be  a  signal  instance  of  the  immediate  care  of  a  divine  provi- 
dence over  the  people  of  America,  that  he  has  in  the  present 
great  revolution,  thus  far  established  among  us  governments 
under  which  no  man,  who  acknowledges  the  being  of  a  God, 
can  be  abridged  of  any  civil  right  on  account  of  his  religious 
sentiments,  while  other  nations,  who  see  and  lament  their 
wretched  situation,  are  yet  groaning  under  a  grievous  bond- 
age. But  government  established  upon  these  liberal,  just,  and 
truly  Christian  principles,  and  wisely  confined  to  the  great 
objects  of  ascertaining  and  defending  civil  rights,  in  avoiding 
the  possibility  of  wounding  the  conscience  of  any,  must 
necessarily  leave  some  cases  unprovided  for,  which  come 
properly  under  the  care  of  religious  societies.  Hence  we  are 
not  only  left  at  liberty  to  act  agreeably  to  our  sentiments, 
but  the  necessity  and  obligation  of  establishing  and  support- 
ing religious  societies,  are  increased  and  strengthened." 

"  We  acknowledge  the  kindness  of  Providence  in  awaken- 
ing us  to  a  view  of  the  deplorable  situation  in  which  we  have 
been  :  disowned  and  rejected  by  those  among  whom  we  have 
been  educated,  and  without  a  hope  of  being  ever  again  united 
to  them  :  separated  and  scattered  abroad,  as  if  we  had  been 
aliens  in  a  strange  land  :  the  prospect  of  our  situation  has 
indeed  humbled  us:  but  that  mercy  which,  "to  an  hair's- 
breadth,"  covers  the  judgment  seat  of  God,  has  preserved  us, 
and  induced  us  to  confide  that  he  will  care  for  us.  Being 
made  sensible  of  the  indispensable  necessity  of  uniting 
together,  we  have  cast  our  care  upon  God,  and  depending  upon 
him  for  our  support,  conceive  it  to  be  a  duty  which  we  owe 
to  ourselves,  our  children,  and  families,  to  establish  and  sup- 


52 

port  among  us  public  meetings  for  religious  worship,  to 
appoint  stated  meetings  for  conducting  the  affairs  of  the 
Society,  upon  principles  as  liberal  and  enlarged  toward  one 
another,  as  those  adopted  by  the  State  are  toward  all,  and 
paying  a  due  regard  to  the  principles  of  our  forefathers,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  wise  regulations  established  by  them,  to  fix 
upon  such  rules  as  may  enable  us  to  preserve  decency  and 
good  order :  and  among  other  things,  to  agree  upon  and 
make  known  a  decent  form  of  marriage,  which  may  at  once 
secure  the  rights  of  parents  and  children  :  and  a  mode  of 
forming  and  preserving  records  of  marriages,  births,  and 
burials. 

For  these  purposes  an  essay  of  discipline,  founded  on  that 
of  our  ancestors,  has  been  formed,  and  laid  before  the  meet- 
ing for  business.  A  good  degree  of  unanimity  of  sentiments 
thereupon  has  appeared  among  us  ;  but  we  have  thought  it 
proper  to  leave  it  open  for  further  consideration,  and  thus  to 
communicate  to  our  friends  what  we  are  about  to  do,  in  order 
to  avail  ourselves  of  the  advice  and  assistance  of  all  who  may 
kindly  afford  us  their  counsel.  And  we  sincerely  and  earnestly 
desire  that  we  may  obtain  and  be  guided  by  that  "  wisdom 
from  above,"  which  is  sufficient  to  overcome  every  danger 
and  difficulty  Avhich  we  may  have  to  contend  against,  and 
finally  unite  us  together,  in  a  truly  Christian  fellowship,  and 
in  the  bonds  of  peace.  Signed  by  order  of  the  Meeting, 
Samuel  Wetherill,  Jr.,  Clerk. 


Appendix  No.  3. 

From  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends,  called  by  some, 
THE  FREE    QUAKERS, 

Held  by  Adjotirnment  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  gtk  Day  of  the  yth  Month, 
1781. 

To    THOSE    OF   OUR   BRETHREN   WHa  HAVE    DISOWNED    US:  — 

Brethren : — Among  the  very  great  number  of  persons  whom 
you  have  disowned  for  matters  religious  and  civil,  a  number 
have  felt  a  necessity  of  uniting  together  for  the  discharge  of 
those  religious  duties  which  we  undoubtedly  owe  to  God  and 
to  one  another.  We  have  accordingly  met,  and  having 
seriously  considered  our  situation,  agreed  to  establish  and 
endeavor  to  support,  on  the  ancient  and  sure  foundation, 
meetings  for  public  worship,  and  meetings  for  conducting  our 
religious  affairs.  And  we  rejoice  in  a  firm  hope,  that  as  we 
humble  ourselves  before  God,  his  presence  will  be  found  in 
them,  and  his  blessing  descend  and  rest  upon  them. 

As  you  have  by  your  proceedings  against,  separated  your- 
selves from,  us  and  declared  that  you  have  no  unity  with  us, 
you  have  compelled  us,  however  unwillingly,  to  become  sepa- 
rate from  you.  And  we  are  free  to  declare  to  you  and  the 
world,  that  we  are  not  desirous  of  having  any  mistake  which 
we  happen  to  make  laid  to  your  charge  ;  neither  are  we 
willing  to  have  any  of  your  errors  brought  as  guilt  against  us. 
To  avoid  these,  seeing  that  you  have  made  the  separation,  we 
53 


54 

submit  to  have  a  plain  line  of  distinction  made  between  us 
and  you.  But  there  are  some  points  which  seem  to  require 
a  comparison  of  sentiments  between  you  and  us,  and  some 
kind  of  decision  to  be  made  upon  them.  The  property  of 
that  Society  of  which  we  and  you  were  once  joint  members, 
is  far  from  being  inconsiderable,  and  we  have  done  nothing 
which  can  afford  even  a  pretension  of  our  having  forfeited  our 
right  therein. 

Whether  you  have  or  have  not  a  right  to  declare  to  the 
world  your  sentiments  of  the  conduct  of  any  individual ;  or 
whether  you  have  or  have  not  a  right  to  sit  in  judgment  over 
and  pass  sentence  upon  your  Christian  brethren  differing  in 
sentiment  from  you,  although  educated  among  you,  are  not 
questions  now  to  be  considered  :  but  you  having  taken  upon 
you  to  do  those  things,  it  remains  only  to  be  enquired,  what 
are  the  consequences  in  law  and  equity  of  your  having  so 
done.  Surely  you  will  not  pretend  that  our  right  is  destroyed 
by  those  acts  of  yours.  But  we  suggest  to  your  consideration, 
Whether  your  conduct  has  or  has  not  disqualified  you  to  hold 
any  part  of  that  property?  A  serious  and  full  consideration, 
of  this  question,  and  the  critical  and  strikingly  singular  situa- 
tion in  which  you  stand,  cannot  injure  you  ;  but  it  may,  pos- 
sibly, induce  you  to  consider,  with  the  more  candour  and 
readiness,  what  equity  requires  to  be  done  by  you  toward  us, 
or  by  us  toward  you  ;  and  tend  to  a  decision  the  most 
proper  between  brethren  differing  in  sentiment  one  from 
another  concerning  their  respective  rights  to  property,  yet 
each  believing  in  him  whose  precept  leads  us,  "  to  do  unto 
others  as  we  would  they  should  do  unto  us." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  consequences  to  yourselves, 
either  of  your  conduct  toward  us  as  friends  to  the  present  revo- 
lution ;  or  of  your  conduct  in  other  cases,  less  immediately 


55 

respecting  us,  it  seems  to  be  unquestionably  certain,  that  we 
have  not  done  anything  which  can  possibly  forfeit  our  right. 
And  we  see  no  reason  why  we  should  surrender  it  up  to  you ; 
but  think  it  a  duty  incumbent  on  us  to  assert  our  claim. 

As  a  place  for  holding  our  meetings  for  worship  and  meet- 
ings for  business  relative  to  the  Society,  is  become  necessary 
for  us,  since  you  have  separated  yourselves  from  us,  by  testify- 
ing against  us,  and  thereby  rendering  it  highly  improper  for 
us  to  appear  among  you,  as  one  people,  at  your  meetings,  we 
think  it  proper  for  us  to  use,  apart  from  you,  one  of  the  houses 
built  by  Friends  in  this  city  for  those  purposes.  We  are 
desirous  of  doing  this  in  the  most  decent  and  unexceptionable 
manner,  and  we  are  willing  to  hear  anything  which  you  may 
choose  to  say  on  the  subject.  And  therefore  we  thus  invite 
you  to  the  opportunity  of  doing  it,  and  of  shewing  what  de- 
gree of  kindness  and  brotherly  love  toward  us,  still  remains 
among  you.  We  also  mean  to  use  the  burial  ground,  whenever 
the  occasion  shall  require  it.  For,  however,  the  living  may 
contend,  surely  the  dead  may  lie  peaceably  together. 

Lest  any  may  infer  too  much  from  this  representation,  we 
think  it  proper  explicitly  to  declare,  that  should  our  right  to 
the  property  in  question  be  found,  in  the  law,  to  be  superior 
to  yours,  from  any  consideration  whatever,  it  is  far,  very  far 
from  our  wish  to  seclude  you  from  a  joint  participation  with 
us  in  the  use  of  it.  Neither  do  we  mean  to  solicit  a  decision 
in  law,  unless  you  by  your  conduct  compel  us  to  it. 

We  sincerely  and  earnestly  desire  to  have  this  subject 
amicably,  equitably  and  speedily  adjusted,  and  request  that 
this  free  communication  of  our  sentiments  may  be  made 
known  to  all  who  are  usually  consulted  on  business  among 
you,  and  that,  for  this  purpose,  it  may  be  read  when  you 
next  meet  together  on  religious  business. 


56 

As  Christians,  labouring  in  some  degree  to  forgive  injuries, 
we  salute  you,  and  though  rejected  by  you,  we  are  your 
friends  and  brethren.  Signed  in  and  on  behalf  of  the  said 
Meeting,  by, 

Samuel  Wetherill,  Jr.,  Clerk, 

The  foregoing  is  copied  from  the  original  which  was  pre- 
sented to  Philadelphia  Monthly  Meeting.  The  following  is 
endorsed  on  the  back,  in  a  handwriting  evidently  contem- 
poraneous with  the  transaction. 

The  printed  copy  of  a  paper  presented  to  the  Monthly 
Meeting  of  Friends  of  Philadelphia,  on  the  27  th  of  the  7th 
month,  1 781,  by  Timothy  Matlack,  attended  by  Moses 
Bartram  and  White  Matlack,  the  said  T.  M.  saying 
"  that  they  were  appointed  by  a  Monthly  Meeting  of 
"  Friends,  by  some  called  the  Free  Quakers,  to  deliver  the 
"  same,  and  desired  it  might  be  read,"  and  giving  it  to  the 
Clerk  it  was  laid  on  the  table  ;  upon  which  the  said  Timothy 
and  his  companions  withdrew.  Our  meeting  proceeded  on 
our  usual  business,  and  at  the  close  of  it  a  Committee  of  five 
were  appointed  to  inspect  the  Contents  of  the  said  paper, 
and  Report  their  Judgment  to  a  future  meeting  of  the  pro- 
priety of  reading  it  in  our  meeting,  who  knowing  that  a 
paper  of  the  like  kind  had  been  the  same  week  delivered  in 
the  like  manner  to  the  Monthly  Meetings  for  the  northern 
and  southern  districts,  and  that  a  committee  was  appointed 
by  each  of  those  meetings  also  to  consider  the  propriety  of 
reading  the  same  in  those  meetings :  The  three  Committees 
in  a  few  days  met  together  and  on  comparing  the  several 
papers  found  they  were  exact  copies  of  each  other,  and  after 
deliberation   on    the   contents,  which   were    new  and  extra- 


57 

ordinary,  manifesting  a  disposition  for  Contest,  and  to  give 
Friends  trouble,  it  was  thought  advisable  to  call  together  a 
greater  number  of  Friends  selected  from  each  of  the  Monthly 
Meetings,  in  order  for  further  consultation  on  the  subject,  and 
that  unanimity  might  prevail  in  our  conclusion,  who  accord- 
ingly met,  when  the  papers  were  again  read,  and  after  a  full 
communication  of  sentiments  the  following  report  was  agreed 
to  be  verbally  delivered  to  each  of  our  succeeding  Monthly 
meetings — viz:  "We   have   considered    the  contents  of  the 

"  papers     presented     to    our    last 

Cony    of    The    Paper  .       ,      _. 

from"  Timothy    Matlack  "  meetmg  by  Timothy  Matlack  and 

and  Company,  presented  "  others,  and  are  of  the  judgment 

to  each  of  the  Monthly  ,,  ^^^^  -^  j^  improper  to  be  read  in 
Meetings    of   Friends    in 

Philadelphia,    published  ''' the  meeting,   of  which  we  think 

by      themselves     before  "  the  parties  concerned   will  have 

either  of  the    said  meet-  ,,  j      ^      i  •         j 

,    ,         ,    ,    ,  "grounds   to  be  convmced    on  a 
mgs  had  concluded  on  an  ° 

answer.  "  cool  and  dispassionate  reconsid- 

"  eration   of  the    nature  and    ten- 

"  dency  of  the  requisition  they  make." 

Which  Report  being  accordingly  made  to  each  of  our 
Monthly  Meetings  in  the  eighth  month  and  approved,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  Clerk  of  each  meeting  should  give  the  same 
verbally  as  the  answer  of  the  meeting  to  Timothy  Matlack  or 
either  of  the  persons  who  attended  with  him  if  they  should 
apply,  or  in  case  of  an  application  to  any  other  Friend,  by 
any  of  the  said  persons,  they  should  be  referred  for  an  answer 
to  the  Clerk  of  each  meeting  respectively,  which  was  done 
accordingly  by  the  said  Clerks  respectively  to  the  said 
T.  M. 


Appendix  No.  4. 

To  THE  Representatives  of  the  Freemen  of  the  Common- 
wealth OF  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Assembly  Met  : 

Divers  Freemen  of  the  said  Commonwealth  beg  leave  to  shew : — 

That  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  religious  societies  of  people 
are  entitled  to  hold  lots  of  ground  for  the  purposes  of  erect- 
ing thereon  houses  for  worship  and  school  houses,  and  for 
burying  grounds: — That  the  people  called. Quakers,  in  divers 
parts  of  the  State,  have  accordingly  possessed  themselves  of 
such  estates  and  others  :  That  your  petitioners  are  not  only  by 
birth,  but  some  of  us  are,  also,  by  subscription  to  the  common 
stock,  and  by  subscription  for  particular  purchases,  etc.,  justly 
entitled  to  the  common  use  and  possession  of  the  estates  so 
held  by  the  said  people  :  — 

That  very  great  numbers  of  persons  have  been  disowned  by 
the  leading  men  of  that  society,  on  various  pretences,  espe- 
cially during  the  present  revolution  ;  And  omitting  very  many 
of  those  pretences,  we  beg  leave  to  mention  the  following,  to 
wit. :  — 

Some  have  been  disowned  for  affirming  allegiance  to  the 
State  in  compliance  with  the  laws ; — and  their  elders  and  over- 
seers have  proposed  and  insisted  on  a  renunciation  of  that 
allegiance,  as  a  condition  of  re-union  with  them. 

Some  for  holding  offices  under  the  State,  and  some  for  hold- 
ing offices  under  the  United  States, 

Many  for  bearing  arms  in  defence  of  our  invaded  country, 
58 


59 

although  the  laws  of  the  State  enjoined  and  required  it  of 
them. 

And  some  have  been  disowned  for  having  paid  the  taxes 
required  of  them  by  law  ! 

That  many  so  disowned  have  been  greatly  distressed  there- 
by. They  felt  and  acknowledged  the  duty  of  public  worship, 
and  anxiously  desired,  for  themselves  and  their  families,  the 
benefits  which  arise  out  of  a  performance  of  that  duty.  To 
join  with  other  religious  societies  would  have  done  violence  to 
their  religious  principles,  and  to  join  with  those  who  had  dis- 
owned them,  was  evidently  improper  :  therefore,  they  agreed 
to  worship,  apart  from  those  who  had  disowned  them,  in  the 
meeting  houses  to  which  they  deem  themselves  justly  entitled. 
For  this  end  decent  representations  to  the  several  monthly 
meetings  of  Philadelphia,  and  to  the  yearly  meeting,  have 
been  made  ;  these  have  been  rejected  without  a  reading.  The 
key  of  one  of  the  meeting  houses  not  then  in  use,  hath  been 
requested  and  refused,  and  the  names  of  the  committees  by 
whom  these  measures  have  been  advised,  have  been  concealed 
from  us,  whereby,  we  have  not  only  been  deprived  of  the  use 
of  those  houses  to  which  we  are  entitled,  but  are  prevented 
even  from  conferring  with  those  who  withhold  it  from  us. 

That  certain  men  among  those  people  have  assumed  and 
exercised  a  pretended  right  to  refuse,  or  to  grant  as  of  favour, 
at  their  discretion  and  pleasure,  the  interment  of  the  dead  in 
the  burying  ground  granted  in  common  to  their  and  our  an- 
cestors, of  which  two  contrasted  instances  are  alleged — One 
man,  who  died  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  was  denied 
the  right  of  burial,  "because  he  had  borne  arms  and  been  con- 
cerned in  war."  Another  man,  having  no  pretension  of 
right,  who  had  been  convicted  of  an  attempt  to  bribe  the 
pilots  of  the  State  to  conduct  the  British  fleet  into  our  har- 


6o 

bour,  condemned,  hanged,  and  buried  in  other  ground,  was 
long  after  taken  up,  and  interred,  by  their  order,  among  our 
friends  ! 

That  those  people  thus  assume  and  exercise,  not  only  a 
power  of  condemning  and  publicly  censuring  men  for  their 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  but,  in  effect,  decree  and 
execute  forfeitures  against  them  for  such  obedience. 

That,  connected  with  many  of  the  members  of  that  society 
by  the  strongest  ties,  we  have  no  desire  to  injure  them  ;  and 
mention  those  facts  for  the  sole  purpose  of  shewing  to  this 
honourable  house  our  true  situation. 

That,  however  painful  it  is  to  be  held  up  by  those  people  to 
the  world  as  "Heathen  men,"  and  as  being  "cut  off,  by  the 
sword  of  the  spirit,  from  the  Church  of  Christ,"  confiding  in 
the  justice  of  that  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged,  we  solemnly 
appeal  for  a  decision  on  this  point  to  the  Great  Arbiter  of 
heaven  and  earth.  And,  respecting  .the  said  property,  con- 
sidering the  case  of  those  so  disowned  as  arising  out  of  a 
great  revolution  which  the  laws  have  not  provided  for,  and 
proper  for  the  consideration  of  the  legislature. 

We  pray  this  honorable  house,  in  whose  justice  and  wisdom 
we  confide,  will  grant  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  recognizing 
the  right  of  persons  disowned  by  the  people  called  Quakers, 
to  hold  in  common  with  others  of  that  society,  the  meeting 
houses,  school  houses,  burying  grounds,  lots  of  land,  and 
other  the  estates  held  by  that  people  as  a  religious  society,  and 
to  recognize  their  right  to  search,  examine,  and  take  copies 
of  the  records,  books  and  papers,  of  the  said  society,  from 
time  to  time,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  such  estates, 
proving  marriages,  ascertaining  descents  and  securing  their 
rights,  and  other  purposes  as  they  may  have  occasion  ;  and 
to  enable  those  so  disowned  to  purchase  and  hold  such  estates 


as  other  religious  societies  are  by  law  entitled  to  hold  and 
enjoy. 

And  your  petitioners,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  pray,  etc. 


Signatures  of  Petitioners  Indorsed  on  the  Petition. 


Thos.  Crispin, 
Tho.  Bryan, 
Abr.  Shoemaker, 
Robt.  Jones, 
Joseph  Ogden, 
Sam'l.  Howell, 
Edwd.  Heston, 
James  Bartram, 
John  Bartram, 
JoNA.  Paschall, 
Henry  Hayes, 
J.  Pearson, 
Jos.  Pearson, 
Sam'l.  Smith, 
Matt.  Ash, 
jona.  bonsall, 
Jna.  Ash, 
Jos.  Bonsall, 
Joshua  Bonsall, 
Josh.  Ogden  Jr., 


Joseph  Govett, 
Jno.  Richardson, 
Thos.  Coats, 
Thos.  Hopkins, 
Evan  Evans, 
Moses  Bartram, 
Jno.  Morris, 
Jas.  Pearson, 
Go.  Chandler, 
James  Delaplaine, 
Nathan  Gibson, 
Wm.  Darragh, 
j.  musgrave, 
Aron  Musgrave, 
Sam'l  Wetherill, 
White  Matlack, 
Edw.  Evans, 
TiMO.  Matlack, 
Ths.  Renshaw, 
Rich'd  Somers, 
Wm.  Crispin. 


Cadl.  Dickinson, 
Caleb  Hewes, 
J.  Fisher, 
Wm.  Fisher  Jr., 
Abr.  Roberts, 
John  Knight, 
Nathl.  Allen, 
John  Bell, 
Saml.  Morris, 
Benj.  Paschall, 
Joseph  Stiles, 
Pet.  Thomson, 
IssAc  Howell, 
Benj.  Say, 
Nathl.  Browne, 
Jno.  Parrish  Jr., 
Wm.  Milnor, 
Saml.  Robbins, 
Clemt.  Biddle, 
David  Evans, 


[The  petition  was  presented  to  the  legislature  on  December  21,  A,  D.,  1781,  and 
ordered  to  lie  on  the  table. 1 


Appendix  No.  ^. 

Philadelphia,  Ninth  Month,  7th,  1782. 
The  following  Memorial  and  Address  was  presented  to  the 
Assembly  soon  after  the  date  of  it,  and  is  entered  on  the 
Journals  of  the  House  in  the  Second  Month  last ;  a  recent 
attack  of  Isaac  Howell  and  White  Matlack  in  a  remonstrance 
to  the  House  now  sitting,  of  a  like  nature  with  the  petition 
to  which  this  Memorial  is  an  answer,  makes  it  necessary  to  be 
more  extensively  published. 

To  THE  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania:  — 

An  Address  and  Memorial  on  Behalf  of  the 
People  Called  Quakers. 

Being  informed  that  a  petition  was  presented  to  you  at  your 
last  sitting,  signed  by  some  persons  residing  in  Philadelphia 
and  parts  adjacent,  which  affected  the  reputation  and  interest 
of  our  religious  society,  and,  on  our  application,  being  in- 
dulged with  a  copy  thereof,  we  find  it  is  intended  to  arraign 
the  discipline  established  among  us,  and  artfully  designed  to 
impress  your  minds  with  unfavorable  sentiments,  by  misrep- 
resentations and  injurious  charges  against  us  which  we  hope 
we  are  able  to  confute  to  your  satisfaction,  so  as  to  obviate 
the  evil  intentions  of  this  attack  upon  our  religious  and  civil 
rights  and  liberties  ;  and  therefore,  apprehend  it  not  improper 
to  offer  to  your  consideration,  a  few  remarks  as  briefly  as  the 
nature  of  the  subject  will  admit. 
62 


63 

The  doctrine  and  order  deliberately  and  conscientiously 
received  and  settled,  by  the  united  concurrence  of  our  relig- 
ious society,  we  have  at  all  times  held  it  our  indispensable 
duty  to  maintain  by  the  gospel  methods  of  instruction,  advice 
and  admonition,  and  in  cases  of  disorderly  walking,  which 
have  a  tendency  to  infringe  upon  the  peace  and  unity  of  the 
church,  we  proceed  no  further  than  to  a  suspension  of  a  close 
communion  with  the  parlies  offending,  or  as  occasion  might 
call  for  it,  to  declare  that  they  being  departed  from  the  unity 
of  the  body,  are  no  longer  of  it. 

We  apprehend,  that  when  any  religiously  united  body  liath 
in  its  collective  capacity,  according  to  the  understanding 
received  from  the  holy  spirit,  and  agreeable  to  the  holy  scrip- 
tures, fixed  the  terms  of  its  communion,  it  has  a  right  in  all 
points  it  deems  material,  to  see  that  they  are  preserved  invio- 
late by  its  members,  and  to  acknowledge  or  reject  any  accord- 
ing to  their  faithfulness  or  unfaithfulness  thereunto,  and  where 
it  judges  any  have  justly  forfeited  their  membership,  to  declare 
so;  otherwise,  litigious  and  refractory  members  might  render 
the  church  a  stage  of  perpetual  contention  and  confusion  ;  or, 
as  a  kingdom  divided  against  itself,  which  cannot  stand.  For 
its  own  peace  and  preservation,  therefore,  it  can  do  no  less 
than  to  "  withdraw  itself  from  every  brother  that  walketh  dis- 
orderly," 2  Thess.,  iii  and  3,  which  can  be  done  by  no  means 
more  proper  than  by  declaring  its  disunion  with  them. 

This  is  the  ultimate  process  of  the  people  called  Quakers, 
which  is  not  intended  by  them  for  the  punishment  of  any,  but 
for  keeping  the  church  clear  from  disorder. 

Rules  are  necessary  to  the  support  of  order  in  religious  as 
well  as  civil  societies.  There  must  be  some  power  in  the  col- 
lective body,  which  is  not  in  every  particular  singly  to  answer 
the  end  of  order.     This  cannot  be  less  than  a  power  to  accept 


64 

or  reject  particular  members  according  to  the  suitableness  or 
unsuitableness  of  their  conduct  with  its  doctrines  and  rules. 
The  nature  of  society  and  the  fitness  of  things  require  thus 
much  and  our  discipline  extends  no  further.  It  intrudes  not 
upon  the  civil  rights  of  its  members,  affects  no  secular  author- 
ity over  their  persons  or  property  ;  but  leaves  them  in  a  reason- 
able freedom  either  to  continue  in  membership  by  a  conduct 
agreeable  to  our  principles  and  rules,  or  to  separate  from  us 
if  they  think  fit ;  nor  are  any  prohibited  from  assembling 
with  us  in  our  meetings  for  public  worship,  which  it  is  well 
known  are  held  openly,  and  free  to  all  sober  people. 

The  nature  of  society  requires  unity  and  harmony.  A 
continued  infraction  of  the  terms  of  its  communion,  is  not 
only  a  continual  interruption  to  the  peace  of  it,  but  has  a 
tendency  to  its  dissolution  ;  hence  it  behooves  every  regular 
united  body,  to  support  the  observance  of  its  rules  among  its 
members,  for  its  own  peace  and  preservation ;  sensible  of 
this,  the  apostle  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans  writes  thus  : 
"  I  beseech  you  brethren,  mark  them  which  cause  divisions 
"  and  offences,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  have 
"learned,  and  avoid  them." — This  a  church  cannot  do  but 
by  clearing  itself  of  them,  which  is  a  necessary  exertion  of 
gospel  discipline,  towards  those  who  might  give  disturbance 
to  it,  or  "by  fair  speeches  deceive  the  hearts  of  the 
simple." 

Besides  God's  exterior  dispensation  of  his  written  law,  he 
still  condescends  according  to  his  gracious  promise,  to  teach 
his  people  immediately  by  his  spirit  in  their  hearts  ;  this  is 
the  true  basis  of  the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  as  this  is 
a  privilege  sacred  to  every  man,  so  it  is  to  every  religious 
society,  no  one  of  which  is  entitled  to  impose  upon  another, 
in  matters  of  doctrine  or  order  :  neither  has  any  individual 


65 

a  right  to  impose  himself  upon  it,  contrary  to  its  established 
rules. 

The  respectable  John  Locke  saith,  "  No  man  by  nature 
"is  bound  unto  any  particular  church  or  sect,  but  every  one 
"joins  himself  voluntarily  to  that  society  in  which  he  believes 
"he  has  found  that  profession  and  worship  which  is  truly 
"  acceptable  to  God.  As  no  man  is  bound  to  any  church 
"  against  his  particular  conscience,  neither  is  any  church 
"bound  to  any  man  against  that  rule  and  order  established 
"  therein,  according  to  its  collective  conscience.  I  hold 
"that  no  church  is  bound  by  the  duty  of  toleration,  to  re- 
"  tain  any  such  person  in  her  bosom,  as  after  admonition, 
"continues  to  offend  against  the  laws  of  the  society.  For 
"  these  being  the  condition  of  communion,  and  the  bond  of 
"  the  society,  if  the  breach  of  them  were  permitted  without 
"  animadversion,  the  society  would  immediately  be  thereby 
"dissolved."  Let.  on  Toleration,  4  ed.  Pa.  10  and  13. 
Liberty  of  consciences  is  every  man's  undoubted  right,  and 
no  less  the  right  of  every  religious  society,  and  as  no  man 
ought  to  be  forcibly  imposed  upon  in  that  respect,  neither 
should  any  religious  society  suffer  itself  to  be  imposed  upon 
against  its  judgment  by  any  man,  whatever  his  pretence 
may  be  ;  nor  is  that  man  who  attempts  it,  doing  as  he  would 
be  done  by  in  such  attempt ;  or  shewing  that  regard  to  the 
conscience  of  the  body  that  he  claims  to  his  own.  The 
religious  liberty  of  a  person  consists  not  in  a  power  to  im- 
pose himself  upon  any  religious  society,  against  the  rules 
of  its  communion,  but  in  a  freedom  to  join  himself  to  one 
whose  rules,  doctrine  and  worship  are  conformable  to  his 
conscience,  or  to  disjoin  himself  from  one  where  all  or  any 
of  them  are  not  so. 

Everyone  who  hath  espoused  opinions  different  from  those 
5 


66 

of  the  people  called  quakers  is  at  liberty  to  leave  them,  and 
join  himself  to  any  other  people  ;  this  cannot  be  stiled  a  hard 
or  unjust  measure ;  freedom  of  enquiry  is  allowed,  and  liberty 
of  action  is  allowed  so  far  as  can  be  consistent  with  the  nature 
and  peace  of  society,  which  cannot  be  properly  supported,  if 
its  members  are  suffered  to  live  in  the  breach  of  its  rules  and 
orders  without  any  animadversion. 

The  intention  of  our  discipline  is  not  a  dominion  over  the 
faith,  or  an  abridgment  of  the  just  liberty  of  any  ;  it  seeks  not 
the  hurt  of  any,  but  the  good  of  all ;  and  that  purity  of  man- 
ners, love,  peace,  and  harmony  may  be  preserved  through- 
out the  whole  body  on  the  basis  of  truth.  The  society 
proceeds  no  further  in  any  case  than  it  believes  itself  neces- 
sarily obliged  to  do,  as  a  Christian  body.  And  in  showing  its 
disunity  with  such  of  its  members  as  violate  its  rules  and 
orders,  it  is  warranted  by  the  laws  of  the  land ;  it  having  as 
we  have  understood,  been  also  publicly  declared  by  learned 
judges  in  courts  of  judicature  in  Great  Britain,  to  be  the 
common  privilege  of  all  societies  of  tolerated  dissenters  ;  and 
we  hope  the  same  reason  will  equally  avail  in  America. 

Now  we  do  not  deny  that  many  of  the  petitioners  stand 
disunited  from  religious  membership  with  us,  and  divers  of 
them  have  been  so  from  ten  to  twenty  years  past  and  upwards, 
which  separation  on  our  part  has  proceeded  from  necessity, 
and  not  of  choice,  nor  on  mere  "  pretences  "  as  they  suggest ; 
the  causes  which  produced  it,  for  their  sakes  we  do  not  care 
to  revive,  unless  they  should  make  it  unavoidable ;  there  are 
also  in  the  number,  such  who  were  never  acknowledged 
among  us,  if  not  some  who  have  had  no  claim  to  such  right. 

We  presume  not  to  cut  off  any  "  from  the  Church  of 
Christ"  ;  for  if  a  member  of  the  natural  body  be  cut  off,  it 
is  impossible  to  unite  it  again,  so  as  sensibly  to  communicate 


67 

with,  and  be  restored  to  its  proper  use  in  the  body.  The  case 
of  one  disowned  by  us  should  rather  be  considered  as  a 
member  who  may  be  restored,  having  instances  of  many,  who 
through  divine  mercy,  becoming  sensible  of  their  deviation 
in  conduct  and  the  propriety  of  our  proceedings  towards  them, 
have  returned  into  christian  fellowship  with  us,  to  their  satis- 
faction and  ours. 

Nor  are  any  persons  disowned  by  ''leading  men,"  among 
us ;  but  if  a  member  thinks  himself  aggrieved  by  the  united 
judgment  of  a  monthly  meeting,  he  has  the  right  of  appealing 
to  the  quarterly  meeting,  as  also  to  our  yearly  meeting,  and 
it  is  our  practice  to  notify  the  party  concerned,  of  his  having 
this  privilege,  that  he  may  embrace  it,  if  he  thinks  proper; 
and  in  these  several  meetings,  that  every  acknowledged  mem- 
ber has  liberty  to  judge  and  speak. 

Having  heretofore  expressed  our  sentiments  and  principles 
on  the  subject  of  war,  and  relating  to  tests,  particularly  in 
our  memorial  to  the  late  assembly  on  the  4th  of  the  nth 
month,  1779,  which  is  entered  on  their  minutes:  we  are  un- 
willing now  to  detain  your  attention  on  these  points,  prefer- 
ing  to  manifest  that  a  peaceable  demeanour,  and  passive 
submission  to  the  laws,  where  our  conscience  to  God  restrains 
us  from  active  compliance,  are  a  greater  security  to  govern- 
ment than  verbal  declarations;  the  solemnity  of  which,  is 
found  in  too  many  instances  to  be  no  longer  regarded  than  it 
suits  the  convenience  of  those  who  make  them. 

We  know  not  of  any  of  our  members  being  disowned,  for 
the  payment  of  taxes,  for  the  support  of  government,  nor  is 
there  any  rule  of  our  discipline  that  requires  it. 

Had  the  promoters  of  the  petition  shewn  that  regard  to 
candour,  which  becomes  men  professing  a  concern  for  the 
cause  of  religion,  they  would  have  given  a  different  relation 


68 

of  the  "contrasted  instances,"  (as  they  term  them)  of  the 
interment  of  two  dead  bodies;  the  first  which  we  suppose 
they  allude  to,  had  been  a  person  who  made  no  profession 
with  us,  he  resided  and  died  several  miles  distant  from  the 
city,  and  was  little  known  to  the  persons  to  whom  application 
was  first  made  for  an  order  to  the  grave-digger,  which  occa- 
sioned some  enquiry  to  be  necessary,  and  tho'  the  appliers 
were  answered  by  them,  that  their  application  was  judged 
improper  to  be  complied  with,  yet  three  of  the  relations  of 
the  deceased  were  timely  told,  that  the  request  would  be 
allowed  :  which  as  they  did  not  accept,  it  was  supposed  that 
his  family  found  it  more  convenient  to  bury  him  in  a  grave- 
yard in  the  neighborhood  of  their  residence. 

There  was  an  application  made  for  the  interment  of  the 
other,  at  the  time  of  his  execution,  but  as  he  made  no  pro- 
fession with  us,  as  well  as  in  consideration  of  the  occasion  of 
his  death,  it  was  disallowed.  The  body  being  afterwards 
taken  up  and  removed  to  our  ground,  was  known  to  very  few 
at  that  time,  but  as  soon  as  it  was  heard  of,  caused  great  un- 
easiness to  our  brethren  in  the  city,  who  manifested  their 
disapprobation  of  the  unadvised  measure ;  so  that  their  mis- 
representation of  these  occurrences  must  proceed  from  wrong 
information,  or  a  view  to  prejudice  us,  and  increase  the 
number  of  subscribers  to  their  petition;  while  they  are  silent 
on  the  methods  they  took  by  threats  of  forcibly  entering  the 
grave-yard,  for  the  interment  of  two  children,  to  which  they 
had  no  reason  to  suspect  any  hesitation  would  be  made. 

The  care  of  our  burying-ground  in  the  city  is  committed  to 
persons  appointed  by  our  monthly  meetings,  to  consider  the 
propriety  of  applications,  and  give  permissions  to  the  grave- 
digger  for  interments  within  their  respective  limits.  An 
assertion    therefore,  that   any  individuals  among   us  "  have 


69 

"assumed  a  right  to  grant,  as  matter  of  favour,  the  liberty  of 
burial,"  is  far  from  being  true. 

The  lot  of  ground  which  is  now  our  grave-yard  in  Phila- 
delphia, was  a  donation  of  a  worthy  member  of  our  religious 
society,  at  the  very  early  settlement  of  the  city,  for  the  use 
of  the  people  called  quakers ;  who  are  and  shall  be  in  union 
and  fellowship  with  the  yearly  meeting  of  the  said  people,  for 
a  burying  place,  and  granted  to  certain  persons  in  trust  for 
that  purpose  ;  nevertheless,  it  hath  been  the  general  practice 
not  to  refuse  those  who  have,  near  the  close  of  life,  desired  to 
be  interred  there,  whether  in  profession  with  us  or  not ;  and 
the  records  of  our  burials  will  sufficiently  evidence,  that  the 
number  interred  of  such,  who  were  not  members,  is  nearly 
equal  to,  if  not  greater  than,  those  in  membership  with  us  : 
cavilling  on  this  account  can  therefore  have  no  just  founda- 
tion. 

That  we  possess  some  estate,  on  which  houses  for  public 
worship,  and  other  necessary  buildings,  are  erected,  we 
acknowledge,  and  that  they  have  been  justly  acquired,  and 
are  legally  held  we  must  likewise  assert,  as  also  that  the  in- 
come arising,  tho'  far  short  of  what  some  would  make  out,  is 
carefully  applied  for  the  relief  and  maintenance  of  the  poor, 
the  instruction  of  their  children,  and  other  benevolent  pur- 
poses, for  which  they  were  originally  given  or  purchased, 
which,  with  the  frequent  contributions  among  ourselves,  for 
the  like  uses,  must  be  allowed  to  be  a  public  benefit,  and 
saving  to  the  community  at  large  in  which  we  dwell,  as  we 
also  contribute  our  full  proportion  to  the  support  of  the 
public  poor. 

The  papers,  by  the  petitioners  termed,  decent  representa- 
tions, which  they  suggest  were  treated  with  slight  and  neglect, 
were  committed  to  the  inspection  of  a  number  of  friends  (in 


70 

the  same  manner  as  all  other  papers,  so  offered,  are)  and 
reported  to  be  improper  to  be  read  in  our  meetings,  of  which, 
on  their  enquiry  they  were  duly  informed. 

Whenever  application  has  been  made  for  transcripts  from 
our  records  for  the  ascertaining  descents,  proving  of  births, 
marriages  or  burials,  and  other  purposes,  for  securing  the 
rights  of  individuals,  they  have  always  been  readily  allowed, 
and  certified  copies  given  without  fee  or  reward,  or  the 
originals  produced,  when  necessary,  so  that  a  law  to  recognize 
what  has  never  been  denied,  appears  to  be  entirely  need- 
less. 

The  petitioners  by  their  several  publications,  their  present 
petition  as  well  as  their  general  conduct,  openly  declare  that 
they  do  not  agree  with  us  in  the  fundamentals  of  our  faith, 
and  what  has  been  the  uniform  practice  from  our  first  becom- 
ing a  united  society ;  but  if  they  really  mean  by  their  new 
association,  the  promotion  of  piety  and  virtue  and  the  edifi- 
cation of  each  other  in  love  and  good  works,  it  would  be 
commendable  not  to  attempt  to  establish  themselves  on  a 
violation  of  the  commandment  which  enjoins,  "  thou  shalt  not 
covet  thy  neighbor's  house,  or  anything  that  is  thy  neigh- 
bor's." And  is  equally  forcible  against  coveting  to  obtain 
that  from  a  religious  body,  to  which  they  have  no  right  in  law 
or  justice,  and  at  the  same  time  profess  "  they  have  no  desire 
to  injure  them,"  which  contradictions,  had  they  duly  con- 
sidered, would  have  occasioned  more  caution  and  modesty 
in  their  solemn  appeal  "  to  the  great  arbiter  of  heaven  and 
earth,"  when  their  designs,  however  disguised  by  plausible 
"  pretences,"  are  so  easily  discoverable  to  men. 

The  prayer  of  the  petitioners  will  we  think  not  only  appear 
unprecedented  and  unreasonable,  but,  if  granted,  may  es- 
tablish a  precedent  injurious  to  every  religious  society,  by 


71 

restraining  the  right  of  disowning  any  of  their  members  even 
for  the  most  flagrant  immoralities  and  other  offences.  And 
therefore  we  hope  and  trust  that  on  mature  and  deliberate 
consideration  of  the  nature  and  tendency  of  so  singular 
a  petition,  you  will  judge  it  most  just  and  expedient  to 
answer  the  petitioners  as  Gallio  answered  the  Jews,  when 
they  accused  the  apostle  Paul  before  him.  Acts  xviii,  12  to 
16. 

We  are  your  respectful  Friends, 

Signed  on  behalf  and  by  ") 
direction  of  a   Meeting 
of  the  Representatives  of 

the   said   People  called  V  John  Drinker,  Clerk. 

Quakers  held   at  Phila-  | 

delphia,    the     18th    ist  | 

Month,  1782.  J 


Appendix  No.  6. 

To  THE  Representatives  of  the  Freemen  of  the  Common- 
wealth OF  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Assembly  met  : — 

The    Memorial   and    Remonstrance    of    Isaac    Howell 

and  White  Matlack,  on  behalf  of  themselves  and 

others,    who    have    been    disowned    by    the 

People     called     Quakers,     etc., 

Respectfully  sheweth. 

That  in  a  law  of  this  state  passed  on  the  Thirteenth  day  of 
June,  1777,  entitled,  "An  Act  obliging  the  male  white  inhabi- 
tants of  this  state  to  give  assurances  of  allegiance  to  the 
same,"  etc.,  it  is  declared  that,  "allegiance  and  protection 
are  reciprocal,  and  that  those  who  will  not  bear  the  former, 
are  not  (and  ought  not  to  be)  entitled  to  the  latter:"  the 
first  part  of  which  declaration  is  the  great  and  solid  basis 
upon  which  civil  society  is  established.  That  the  good  people 
of  Pennsylvania  considering  the  said  declaration,  not  as  un- 
meaning words,  but  as  holding  out  and  inviting  all  to  a  most 
important  compact,  essential  to  their  well  being :  and  which 
on  the  part  of  the  state,  was  intended  faithfully  and  inviol- 
ably to  be  preserved,  solemnly  gave  those  "assurances  of  alle- 
giance," which  entitled  them  to  protection.  That  your 
memorialists,  being  among  those  who  have  thus  entered  this 
important  compact,  consider  this  right  of  protection  thus 
gained  to  be  in  value  beyond  estimation.  And  that  as  the 
state  is  bound  by  the  most  solemn  engagements  to  afford  that 
72 


73 

protection  to  those  who  have  given  allegiance ;  so  it  is  the 
indispensable  duty  of  every  man  to  claim  and  assert  his  title 
to  it  whenever  any  of  his  rights  are  invaded. 

That  your  memorialists  justly  considering  this  honorable 
house  as  the  representatives  of  the  state,  from  which  they  were 
of  right  entitled  to  claim  protection,  presented  their  petition, 
representing  in  effect,  that  great  numbers  of  freemen  had 
been  disowned  by  the  people  called  Quakers,  under  various 
pretences,  especially  during  the  struggle  of  this  great  revolu- 
tion, and  stating  four  distinct  cases  ;  viz. 

They  have  been  disowned  for  having  given  allegiance  to 
the  state  in  compliance  with  the  laws. 

For  holding  offices  under  the  state,  and  under  the  united 
states. 

For  bearing  of  arms  in  the  defence  of  our  invaded  country 
alth"  the  laws  of  the  state  enjoined  and  required  it  of  us. 

And  for  the  payment  of  taxes  required  by  law. 

And  they  further  represented,  in  effect,  that  a  number  of 
persons  so  disowned  and  cut  off  from  religious  communion 
and  fellowship  with  those  among  whom  they  had  been  edu- 
cated, collecting  together,  and  being  sensible  of  the  duty  of 
public  worship,  agreed  to  worship  apart  from  those  who  had 
disowned  them,  in  the  meeting  houses  built  by  our  common 
ancestors,  at  such  times  as  not  to  interrupt  or  prevent  those 
who  had  disowned  them,  from  a  common  use  of  the  same 
houses  : — That  the  peaceable  means  adopted  to  obtain  for  that 
purpose  the  use  of  those  meeting  houses  had  been  ineffectual, 
and  treated  by  the  leaders  of  the  monthly  meeting  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  others,  with  a  total  disregard  : — That  certain  men 
among  them,  assumed  and  exercised  a  pretended  right  to 
refuse,  or  to  grant  as  of  favour,  at  their  discretion  and  pleas- 
ure, the  interment  of  the  dead  in  the  burying  ground  granted 


74 

in  common  to  their  and  our  ancestors,  and  gave  instances  of 
the  most  insulting  and  intolerable  abuse  of  that  assumed 
power  ;  that  the  petitioners  were  then  ready  to  give  the  most 
full,  clear,  and  unequivocal  testimony  of  each  and  every  fact 
stated  in  the  said  representation.  That  the  said  petitioners 
conceiving  themselves  of  right  entitled  to  protection,  and 
their  case  a  new  one,  "  arising  out  of  a  great  revolution  which 
the  laws  have  not  provided  for,"  and  therefore  "proper  for 
the  consideration  of  the  legislature,"  and  confiding  in  the 
justice  and  wisdom  of  the  house,  prayed  leave  to  bring  in  a 
bill,  in  effect,  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  the  laws,  in  a  case 
which  had  not,  and  scarce  possibly  could  have  been  foreseen, 
and  thereby  secure  to  them  the  rights  and  privileges  which 
were  thus  withheld  from  them.  A  prayer  so  just  and  reason- 
ble,  it  was  hoped  and  expected  would  have  been  readily 
granted  ;  but  the  petitioners  were  abashed  when  they  read  in 
the  minutes  of  the  house,  that  their  petition  was  "  referred  to 
the  committee  of  grievances ;  "  as  if  their  complaint  had  been 
against  officers  acting  under  the  government,  and  abusing  the 
authorities  of  it. 

That  your  memorialists  having  seen  the  "  address  and 
memorial  on  behalf  of  the  people  called  Quakers  "  signed 
by  "John  Drinker,  clerk,"  which  has  been  presented  to  the 
general  assembly,  remark,  that  the  most  material  facts  stated 
in  the  aforesaid  petition,  are  admitted,  and  others  equivocally 
denied,  that  the  addressers  assert  their  right  of  disowning, 
threaten  to  publish  the  causes  for  which  many  of  the  peti- 
tioners had  been  disowned,  and  refer  this  honorable  house  to 
a  decision  which  they  hope  the  house  will  think  "a.  just  and 
expedient"  answer  to  our  said  petition. 

Your  memorialists  will  not  waste  the  time  of  this  honourable 
house  in  minute  observations  upon  an  address  artfully  calcu- 


75 
lated  to  lead  from  the  point  in  question,  which  is  not  an 
enquiry  whether  religious  societies  may  disown  their  members 
for  immoral  acts  ;  but  whether  a  religious  society,  disowning 
their  members  for  complying  with  the  laws  of  their  country, 
in  those  great  and  important  points  on  which  its  liberty  and 
happiness  essentially  and  absolutely  depend,  may  at  their  will 
and  pleasure,  withhold  from  the  persons  so  disowned,  the  use 
of  the  places  of  worship,  burial  grounds,  etc.,  provided  for 
them  by  their  ancestors  :  and  in  case  of  any  society,  under 
pretence  of  religion,  attempting  so  to  do  whether  the  state  is 
not  bound  to  make  laws  to  secure  those  rights  to  such  persons 
as  have  given  allegiance  to  it,  and  thereby  prevent  the  injustice 
attempted  against  them. 

How  far  the  quotation  from  Locke,  cited  in  the  address  will 
apply  to  these  questions,  your  memorialists  are  well  content 
that  this  honourable  house  shall  decide,  without  a  single  remark 
thereon  from  us,  and  on  the  threat  of  publishing  the  causes 
of  disowning,  we  shall  make  no  other  observation,  than  this 
single  truth,  that  the  subscribers  to  the  said  petition,  are  friends 
to  the  revolution,  of  established  character,  many  of  them  well 
known  to  the  members  of  this  honourable  house,  and  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  such  threats. 

Your  memorialists  observe,  that  the  interment  of  Moles- 
worth,  alluded  to  in  the  petition,  is  said  in  the  address  to  have 
been  "  known  to  a  very  few  at  the  time,"  but  the  fact  is  other- 
wise :  he  was  interred  by  a  formal  written  order,  signed  by 
the  overseers,  and  his  funeral  was  attended  by  a  very  great 
number  of  the  people  of  that  society — which  is  too  notorious 
to  need  proof, — and  respecting  the  fact  of  their  refusing  to  inter 
another  person  because  he  had  borne  arms  and  been  concerned 
in  war,  we  are  ready  to  give  the  clearest  evidence ;  and  as  to 
threats  of  violence  in  the  interment  of  two  children,  it  is  un- 


76 

true,  and  we  are  ready  to  shew,  that  far  from  proposing  any- 
thing of  that  sort,  the  first  magistrate  of  the  city,  was  called 
upon  to  witness,  that  no  riot  or  unlawful  violence  of  any  kind 
was  committed. 

The  decision  referred  to  in  the  address,  and  recommended 
as  a  just  and  expedient  answer  from  this  honourable  house  to 
the  petitioners,  we  hope  and  confide  will  be  well  considered 
before  it  is  adopted  :  we  pray  leave  to  recite  it ;  it  is  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  :  "  And  when  Gallic  was  the  deputy  of  Achaia, 
"the  Jews  made  insurrection  with  one  accord  against  Paul, 
"  and  brought  him  to  the  judgment  seat ;  saying,  This  fellow 
"  persuadeth  men  to  worship  God  contrary  to  the  law,  and 
"  when  Paul  was  now  about  to  open  his  mouth,  Gallio  said 
"unto  the  Jews,  if  it  were  a  matter  of  wrong,  or  wicked 
"lewdness,  O  ye  Jews,  would  that  I  should  bear  with  you. 
"But  if  it  be  a  question  of  words  and  names,  and  of  your 
"  law  look  ye  to  it,  for  I  will  be  no  judge  of  such  matters ;  and 
"  he  drave  them  from  the  judgment  seat."  Acts  xviii,  12  to 
16. 

We  ask  in  what  part  of  our  petition  have  we  charged  the 
people  called  Quakers  with  "  persuading  men  to  worship  God 
contrary  to  law,"  or  what  "questions  of  words  and  names  " 
have  we  proposed  ?  What  is  there  contained  in  the  petition 
on  which  such  insinuated  charges  can  in  any  sort  be  founded  ? 
the  complaint  thereto  made  is  clearly  stated  to  be  a  "  matter 
of  wrong"  which  Gallio  declares  ought  to  be  heard,  and  we 
pray  leave  to  make  a  few  short  remarks  on  the  answer  recom- 
mended. 

We  ask,  what  have  the  petitioners  done  that  should  induce 
the  honourable  house  to  drive  them  from  before  it  ?  The 
sentence  of  Gallio  stands  approved  because  the  Jews  had  done 
wrong  to  Paul ;    but  what  wrong  have  we  done  to   the  ad- 


77 

dressers  ?  they  do  not  even  pretend  any  :  but  suppose  the  case 
before  Gallic  had  been  parallel  with  ours  :  that  the  Roman 
empire  had  been  invaded,  that  the  Jews  had  countenanced 
or  abetted  the  enemy,  while  they  were  desolating  the  country 
with  fire  and  sword,  that  Paul  born  a  jew  had  taken  part  with 
the  empire  and  exposed  his  life  in  its  defence ;  that  the  Jews 
for  that  reason,  but  under  the  pretence  of  religion,  had  ex- 
pelled Paul  from  among  them,  and  secluded  him  from  the 
occasional  use  of  the  sepulchres  of  his  ancestors,  and  other 
rights  descended  to  him,  and  that  thus  circumstanced,  Paul 
had  appealed  to  Caesar's  deputy  for  protection,  and  that  in- 
stead of  affording  him  protection,  Gallio  had  driven  Paul 
from  before  the  judgment  seat ;  what  would  Caesar  have  said 
to  Gallio  for  such  a  flagrant  abuse  and  foolish  violation  of  his 
trust  ?  Would  not  Caesar  have  put  Gallio  to  death?  If  the 
meeting  for  sufferings  appointed  by  that  part  of  the  people 
called  Quakers,  who  have  disowned  us,  think  it  their  duty  to 
offer  their  advice  to  this  honourable  house,  as  to  what  answer 
it  shall  give  to  our  petition,  they  ought  to  consider  this  case. 
But  we  should  deem  ourselves  highly  criminal,  if  we  enter- 
tained the  most  distant  thought,  that  this  honourable  house 
would  adopt  so  unjust  a  sentence. 

We  have  hitherto  forborne  to  urge  this  matter  upon  this 
honourable  house,  interesting  as  it  is  to  us,  because  of  the 
unusual  weight  of  business  which  has  pressed  upon  the  house  : 
but  we  should  be  wanting  in  due  respect,  if  we  permitted  the 
subject  to  remain  in  its  present  state,  so  as  to  leave  an  im- 
pression of  doubt  upon  the  minds  of  any,  whether  this  house 
would  extend  to  the  petitioners  that  protection  to  which  they 
are  of  right  so  clearly  entitled. 

But  if  those  facts  stated  in  the  petition,  and  conceded  in 
the  address  and  memorial,  are  not  deemed  amply  sufficient  to 


78 

induce  the  house  to  grant  the  prayer  of  the  petition,  we  are 
ready  to  prove  every  fact  alleged  by  us  :  and  if  those  are  not 
deemed  sufficient,  we  suggest  the  following,  which  will  place 
the  conduct  of  the  leaders  of  the  society  of  the  people  called 
Quakers,  attached  to  the  cause  of  our  enemies  in  its  true 
point  of  view :  we  say,  of  the  leaders,  because  it  is  a  well 
known  fact,  that  a  great  number  of  the  independent  part  of 
that  people,  have  under  peculiar  difficulties  arising  from  their 
situation  and  connections,  done  honour  to  themselves  by  the 
most  spirited  efforts  in  the  cause  of  their  country. 

Cadwallader  Dickinson  of  Philadelphia  was  disowned  for 
sitting  as  a  juryman  on  the  trial  of  John  Roberts  and  Abra- 
ham Carlile,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  of  which  they  were 
convicted,  and  for  which  they  suffered  death,  although  he  was 
requested  to  serve  on  that  duty  by  a  relation  of  one  of  those 
men.  On  the  other  hand  the  persons  so  charged,  found  guilty 
and  executed,  or  one  of  them,  were  expressly  acknowledged 
to  be  members  of  the  said  society,  and  were  not  disowned  for 
their  treason. 

We  are  ready  to  offer  to  this  honourable  house  the  testi- 
mony of  a  man  of  established  good  reputation,  in  support  of 
the  following  fact,  viz  : 

A  testimony,  as  they  term  it,  prepared  for  disowning  a 
member  for  bearing  of  arms,  and  read  in  a  meeting  of  busi- 
ness in  Philadelphia,  was  so  expressed  as  to  censure  the  join- 
ing of  the  American  army :  it  was  remarked  by  one  present, 
that  the  bearing  of  arms  was  a  sufficient  cause  for  disowning, 
but  that  the  joining  of  either  side  in  the  contest  need  not 
make  any  part  of  the  charge.  To  this  it  was  replied,  that 
the  person  charged,  had  by  joining  the  American  army,  added 
to  the  fault  of  bearing  arms,  the  crimes  of  treason  and  rebellion. 
Whereupon  another  person  present  expressed  great  concern, 


79 

that  such  a  sentiment  should  be  delivered  in  the  meeting, 
and  at  the  same  time  declaring,  that  he  considered  the 
government  of  the  state  to  be  so  far  established,  as  to  claim 
his  respect  and  acknowledgement.  Whereupon  an  eminent 
speaker  in  that  society  declared  "That  he  hoped  there  was 
*'  not  another  man  in  that  meeting  who  entertained  a  like 
"sentiment;  that  he  (the  person  who  had  expressed  that 
"sentiment)  put  him  in  mind  of  the  vicar  of  Bray:"  here 
the  debate  ended  and  the  words  censuring  the  joining  of  the 
American  army  were  continued,  as  expressing  the  sentiments 
of  that  people  !  We  have  forborne  to  give  the  names  of  the 
persons  concerned  in  this  transaction,  because  we  do  not  wish 
to  alledge  them  as  charges  against  individuals,  but  we  are 
ready  to  give  them,  whenever  we  shall  be  required  so  to  do. 

The  public  testimonies  of  those  people,  published  at  differ- 
ent times,  are  known  to  all,  and  need  not  be  here  recited  ; 
but  it  is  perhaps  not  known  to  many,  that  those  people  in 
their  meetings  for  business,  quarterly,  half-yearly,  and  yearly, 
put  the  following  query,  in  effect :  Are  friends  careful  not  to 
defraud  the  King  of  his  dues?  and  we  believe  this  query  is 
still  continued  !  And  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that,  even  in 
the  address  and  memorial  to  this  honourable  house,  they  avoid 
any  acknowledgement  of  the  right  of  government,  and  speak 
of  them  as  men  "  who  are  in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of 
government,"  and  yet  notwithstanding  such  strong  and  full 
evidences,  these  people  have  the  assurance  publicly  to  declare, 
that  "no  just  cause  of  offence  will  be  found  against  them  in 
the  general :"  appear  before  this  honourable  house,  and  not 
only  claim  its  protection,  while  they  withhold  their  allegiance 
and  disclaim  the  revolution  and  government ;  but  also  claim 
a  right  of  punishing  those  who  yield  allegiance,  by  depriving 
them  of  their  rights  descending  from  their  ancestors. 


They  have  even  made  it  a  condition  of  persons  having 
taken  allegiance  to  the  state,  marrying  among  them,  that  that 
allegiance  shall  be  renounced,  and  the  certificate  thereof  re- 
turned. Of  which  strange  fact  we  are  ready  to  give  full 
proof.  These  men,  we  say,  come  before  this  honourable 
house,  claim  the  right  of  disfranchising  hundreds  of  the  free- 
men of  the  state,  for  having  faithfully  discharged,  in  the 
time  of  her  distress,  the  great  duties  which  they  owed  to  their 
country,  and  withhold  from  them  their  property,  peculiarly 
valued  by  all  men,  and  appropriating  that  property  to  their 
own  sole  use  ;  and  when  appeal  is  made  to  the  legislature  of 
the  state,  and  protection  asked,  in  terms  the  most  decent  and 
respectful,  these  men  take  upon  them  to  recommend  as  a 
''proper"  and  "expedient"  answer  that  we  should  "be 
driven  from  before  "  you,  unheard.  And,  if  possible,  to  add 
to  the  insult,  while  they  withhold  our  just  rights,  calmly 
recommend  us  to  observe  the  command,  which  forbids  to 
"  covet  that  which  is  our  neighbour's." 

What  people  of  any  age  or  country,  have  ever  yet  been 
found,  who  would  suffer  their  houses  of  worship,  and  the 
bones  of  their  ancestors  to  be  violated  and  torn  from  them 
without  the  most  desperate  resistance  ?  We  know  of  none. 
Nor  do  we  know  what  we  have  done,  or  omitted  to  do,  that 
should  induce  any  to  think  that  we  should  on  the  present 
occasion,  be  more  tame  and  submissive  than  the  most  abject 
of  mankind.  In  order  to  shew  our  real  situation  we  beg 
leave  to  recite  a  recent  fact : — a  minister  of  the  gospel,  long 
in  high  estimation  among  the  people  called  Quakers,  was 
disowned  by  that  people  in  the  state  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
for  no  other  cause  than  for  having  published,  as  his  opinion, 
that  that  people,  consistent  with  their  religious  profession  may 
pay  their  taxes  for  the  support  of  government  :   came  to  this 


state  on  a  religious  visit  to  those  who  have  been  disowned 
here,  and  having  appointed  a  meeting  for  worship,  to  be  held 
in  the  meeting  house  at  Merion,  the  key  was  obtained  from 
the  keeper,  and  the  house  opened  for  that  purpose,  when 
two  of  the  leading  members  of  that  meeting  came  about  the 
time  appointed  for  holding  the  meeting,  locked  up  the 
house,  took  away  the  key  and  prevented  the  meeting  from 
being  held  :  yet-  so  late  as  the  years  1777  and  1778,  all  the 
meeting  houses  in  the  state  were  opened  to  a  preacher  from 
England,  then  here,  although  it  is  generally  understood  that 
he  considered,  and  on  all  occasions,  public  and  private,  spoke 
of  the  present  revolution  as  a  rebellion.  If  indeed  your 
memorialists  are  mistaken  in  their  claim  of  right  to  protection 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  meeting  houses  and  burial  grounds 
obtained  by  their  ancestors,  and  that  those  of  the  people  called 
Quakers,  who  have  discountenanced  the  present  revolution, 
have  a  divine  right,  or  any  other  right,  to  supercede  the  law  of 
the  land,  and  to  punish  those  who  pay  obedience  to  it,  by 
depriving  them  of  any  of  their  rights  and  privileges,  let  it  be 
so  said  :  but  your  memorialists  think  it  their  duty  to  re- 
iterate the  prayer  of  their  former  petition. 

"We  pray  this  honourable  house,  in  whose  justice  and 
"wisdom  we  confide,  will  grant  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for 
"recognizing  the  right  of  persons  disowned  by  the  people 
"  called  Quakers,  to  hold  in  common  with  others  of  that  soci- 
"  ety,  the  meeting  houses,  school  houses,  burying  grounds, 
"  lots  of  land,  and  other  the  estates  held  by  that  people  as  a 
"religious  society,  and  to  recognize  their  right  to  search, 
"  examine,  and  take  copies  of  the  records,  books,  and  papers 
"  of  the  said  society  from  time  to  time,  for  the  purpose  of 
"  ascertaining  descents,  and  securing  their  rights  and  other 
"  purposes  as  they  may  have  occasion,  and  to  enable  those  so 
6 


"disowned  to  purchase  and  hold  such  estates  as  other  relig- 
"  ious  societies  are  by  law  entitled  to  hold  and  enjoy." 

And  whatever  may  be  the  determination  of  this  honourable 
house  in  other  respects,  they  further  pray,  that  this  memorial 
and  remonstrance  may  be  entered  upon  the  journals  of  the 
house,  in  order  that  hereafter,  we  may  have  recourse  to  authen- 
tic records  for  proof  of  our  having  thus  early  made  a  claim  of 
right,  and  done  everything  in  our  power  to  do  consistent  with 
the  peace  of  civil  society  for  obtaining  a  declaration  of  that 
right  by  law  ;  that  from  authentic  record,  the  People  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  states  in  union,  the  literati  of  Europe,  and 
posterity,  may  judge  of  our  situation  and  be  enabled  justly 
to  decide  upon  such  further  measures  as  may  hereafter  become 
necessary  to  obtain  those  rights,  which  we  can  never  consent 
to  have  coercively  taken  away,  or  withheld  from  us. 

Signed,  Isaac  Howell, 

White  Matlack.    ' 

[From  an  Ancient  Pkinted  Copy  of  the  Journal  of  the  House.    This  was 
Presented  21  iT  of  8th  Month,  1782.] 


Appendix  No.  7. 


To  THE  Representatives  of  the  Freemen  of  the  Common- 
wealth OF  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Assembly  met, 
Respectfully  Sheweth  : 

That  the  subscriber  and  White  Matlack  on  behalf  of  them- 
selves and  others  presented  a  memorial  and  remonstrance  to 
the  Honourable  House  on  the  21st  of  August  last,  praying 
that  a  law  might  be  passed  for  declaring  the  rights  of  Persons 
disowned  by  the  people  called  Quakers,  and  other  purposes 
Expressed  in  said  memorial. 

The  Honorable  House  then  took  the  said  memorial  into 
their  consideration  and  appointed  a  "committee  to  confer 
with  the  memorialists.  Examine  the  facts  set  forth  in  the 
memorial,  and  report  to  the  House."  That  as  the  above 
order  of  the  House  was  only  in  part  complied  with,  they  hoped 
the  house  would  have  entered  on  a  further  consideration 
of  this  business  before  them  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
present  sitting :  but  finding  it  still  omitted,  they  pray 
the  Honorable  house  will  now  resume  the  further  con- 
sideration of  the  said  memorial  and  remonstrance,  and 
grant  to  your  memorialists  that  protection  to  which  they 
are  of  right  so  clearly  entitled. 

In  addition  to  former  petitions  they  beg  leave  to  present 
the  inclosed. 

(signed)  Isaac  Howell. 

[It  was  Probably  Presented  Early  in  March,  1783.] 
83 


S4 
The  enclosure  was  as  follows  : — 

[Copy  of  Enclosure.] 

To  THE  Representatives  of  the  Freemen  of  the  Common- 
wealth OF  Pennsylvania,  in  General  Assembly  met. 

We,  the  subscribers,  disowned  by  the  people  called 
Quakers,  do  hereby  certify  that  we  request  that  a  law  may  be 
passed  for  declaring  the  rights  of  persons  disowned  by  that 
people  and  other  purposes  expressed  in  the  memorial  of  Isaac 
Howell  and  White  Matlack,  and  presented  to  the  Honorable 
House. 


(Signed). 

Sam'l  Wetherill,  Jr., 
James  Boone,  Jr., 
Samuel  Foulke, 
Moses  Bartram, 
Benjamin  Say, 
Jonathan  Scholfield, 
Abraham  Roberts, 
Clement  Biddle, 
Peter  Thompson, 
Edward  Pole, 
James  Pearson, 


Edward  Evans, 
Richard  Somers, 
Jonathan  Draper, 
Thomas  Ross,  Jr., 
John  Buckman,  Jr., 
Isaac  Heston, 
Richard  Leedom, 
Nathaniel  Browne, 
Cadw.  Dickinson, 
Ab.  Shoemaker, 
Thomas  Wright, 
William  Matlack, 


Thomas  Hopkins, 
John  Chapman, 
Joshua  Elv, 
James  Potter, 
Nathaniel  Ellicot, 
Enoch  Betts, 
Saml.  Smith, 
Thomas  Dyer, 
Timothy  Taylor, 
Stacy  Taylor, 
Abner  Buckman, 
Joseph  Lees. 


Appendix  No.  8. 

Copy  of  the  Deed  from  Samuel  Wetherill  and  wife  to 
Christopher  Marshall  and  others,  Trustees. 

This  Indenture,  Made  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month, 
called  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  between  Samuel  Wetherill,  Jr.,  of  the 
City  of  Philadelphia  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  Carpenter, 
and  Sarah  his  wife,  of  the  bne  part,  and  Christopher  Marshall, 
Sr.,  of  the  said  city,  gentleman;  Nathaniel  Brown,  of  the 
said  city,  blacksmith;  Isaac  Howell,  of  the  said  city,  Esquire; 
Peter  Thomson,  of  the  said  city,  conveyancer  ;  Moses  Bar- 
tram,  of  the  said  city,  druggist;  Jonathan  Scholfield,  of  the 
said  city,  shopkeeper ;  Benjamin  Say,  of  the  said  city,  prac- 
titioner in  physic ;  Joseph  Warner,  of  the  said  city,  lastmaker  ; 
and  Abraham  Roberts,  of  the  said  city,  grocer,  of  the  other 
part. 

Whereas,  John  Dunlap,  of  said  city,  printer,  and  Elizabeth 
his  wife,  by  indenture  of  the  fifth  day  of  this  instant  month 
called  July,  for  the  consideration  therein  mentioned  did  grant 
and  confirm  unto  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill,  his  heirs  and 
assigns,  all  that  certain  lot  or  piece  of  ground,  situate  on  the 
south  side  of  Mulberry  or  Arch  street  and  west  side  of  Fifth 
street  from  the  river  Delaware  in  the  said  city,  containing  in 
breadth  on  the  said  Mulberry  street  forty-eight  feet,  and  in 
length  or  depth  one  hundred  feet,  bounded  northward  with 
the  said  Mulberry  street,  eastward  with  the  said  Fifth  street, 
85 


86 

southward  with  another  lot  of  ground  granted  by  the  said 
John  Dunlap  and  wife  to  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill,  and  west- 
ward with  ground  formerly  of  William  Hudson,  and  now  or 
late  of  Joseph  Wharton  and  Hannah  his  wife  :  Together  with 
the  appurtenances  to  hold  to  him,  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill, 
his  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  subject  to  the  payment  of  a  cer- 
tain yearly  rent-charge  or  sum  of  four  pounds  eight  shillings 
lawful  money  of  Pennsylvania,  as  the  same  should  hereafter 
grow  due  and  payable,  as  in  and  by  the  said  recited  Indenture, 
Relation  being  thereunto  had,  at  large  appears.  Now  This 
Indenture  Witnesseih,  That  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill  and 
Sarah  his  wife,  as  well  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of 
ten  shillings  in  specie  unto  them  well  and  truly  paid  by  the 
said  Christopher  Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac  Howell, 
Peter  Thomson,  Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benja- 
min Say,  Joseph  Warner,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  at  or  before 
the  sealing  and  delivering  hereof,  the  Receipt  whereof  is  here- 
by acknowledged,  as  for  divers  other  good  causes  and  valu- 
able considerations  them  hereunto  specially  moving.  Have 
granted,  bargained,  sold,  released,  and  confirmed,  and  by 
these  presents  do  grant,  bargain,  sell,  release,  and  confirm 
unto  the  said  Christopher  Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac 
Howell,  Peter  Thomson,  Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield, 
Benjamin  Say,  Joseph  Warner,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  their 
heirs  and  assigns,  a  certain  lot  or  piece  of  ground  (being  the 
northernmost  part  of  the  said  described  lot  or  piece  of  ground) 
containing  in  breadth  on  the  said  Mulberry  street  forty-eight 
feet,  and  in  length  or  depth  on  the  said  Fifth  street  sixty  feet, 
bounded  northward  with  the  said  Mulberry  street,  eastward 
with  the  said  Fifth  street,  southward  with  the  remainder  of 
the  above-described  lot  whereof  this  is  part,  and  westward 
with  ground  formerly  of  William  Hudson,  and  now  or  late  of 


87 

Joseph  Wharton  and  Hannah  his  wife.  Together  also  with 
all  and  singular  the  building  improvements,  ways,  waters, 
water-courses,  rights,  liberties,  privileges,  hereditaments,  and 
appurtenances  whatsoever  thereunto  belonging  or  in  anywise 
appertaining,  and  the  reversions,  remainders,  rents,  issues, 
and  profits  thereof,  and  also  all  the  estate,  right,  title,  interest, 
possession,  property,  claim  and  demand  whatsoever  of  him, 
the  said  Samuel  Wetherill  and  Sarah  his  wife,  in  law,  equity, 
or  otherwise  howsoever,  of,  in,  to,  and  out  of  the  hereby 
granted  premises  and  every  part  thereof.  To  Have  and  to 
Hold  the  said  described  lot  or  piece  of  ground,  forty-eight 
feet  in  breadth  by  sixty  feet  in  length,  hereditaments  and 
premises  hereby  granted,  bargained,  and  sold  or  mentioned 
so  to  be,  with  the  appurtenances  unto  the  said  Christopher 
Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac  Howell,  Peter  Thomson, 
Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benjamin  Say,  Joseph 
Warner,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  and  the  survivors  and  survi- 
vor of  them,  and  the  heirs  and  assigns  of  such  survivor  for- 
ever. In  Trust  to  and  for  the  uses  and  purposes  hereinafter 
mentioned,  limited,  and  declared,  and  to  and  for  no  other 
use,  intent,  or  purpose  whatsoever;  that  is  to  say,  to  and  for 
the  use  and  benefit  of  the  Religious  Society  of  People  distin- 
guished and  known  by  the  name  of  Free  Quakers  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  to  erect  and  build  a  meeting  house  thereon, 
and  therein  to  meet  for  the  solemn  worship  of  Almighty  God, 
the  Creator,  Upholder  and  Ruler  of  the  universe,  and  upon 
this  special  trust  and  further  confidence  nevertheless,  that 
they,  the  said  Christopher  Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac 
Howell,  Peter  Thomson,  Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield, 
Benjamin  Say,  Joseph  Warren,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  and 
the  survivors  or  survivor  of  them,  or  the  heirs  or  assigns  of 
such  survivor  shall  and  will,  from  time  to  time,  and  as  often 


88 

as  need  be  or  occasion  require,  by  some  good  conveyance  or 
assurance  in  the  law,  for  the  consideration  of  ten  shillings 
grant,  bargain,  sell,  release,  and  confirm  the  hereby  granted 
premises,  and  every  part  thereof,  to  any  number  of  persons, 
to  be  nominated  by  the  said  Religious  Society,  and  the  survi- 
vors and  survivor  of  them,  and  the  heirs  and  assigns  of  such 
survivor  forever.  In  Trust  for  the  uses  and  purposes  aforesaid, 
and  to  and  for  no  other  use,  intent,  or  purpose  whatsoever, 
in  order  to  maintain  and  support  the  contingent  uses  from 
being  defeated  or  destroyed,  and  to  make  entries  for  the  same, 
if  it  shall  be  needful,  free  and  clear,  and  freely  and  clearly 
acquitted,  exonerated,  and  discharged  of  and  from  the  pay- 
ment of  the  said  yearly  rent-charge  of  four  pounds  eight  shil- 
lings, and  every  part  thereof,  and  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill, 
for  himself,  his  heirs,  executors,  and  administrators,  doth 
covenant,  promise,  grant,  and  agree  to  and  with  the  said 
Christopher  Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac  Howell,  Peter 
Thomson,  Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benjamin 
Say,  Joseph  Warner,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  their  heirs  and 
assigns,  by  these  presents,  in  manner  and  form  following  ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  he,  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill,  and  his 
heirs  the  said  described  lot  or  piece  of  ground,  hereditaments 
and  premises  hereby  granted,  bargained,  and  sold,  or  men- 
tioned or  intended  so  to  be,  with  the  appurtenances,  unto  the 
said  Christopher  Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac  Howell, 
Peter  Thomson,  Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benja- 
min Say,  Joseph  Warner,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  their  heirs 
and  assigns,  In  Trust  for  the  uses  aforesaid  against  him  the 
said  Samuel  Wetherill  and  his  heirs,  and  against  all  and  every 
other  person  or  persons  whatsoever  lawfully  claiming  or  to 
claim  by,  from,  or  under  him,  them,  or  any  of  them,  shall 
and  will  warrant  and  forever  defend  by  these  presents  ;  and 


89 

further,  that  he  the  said  Samuel  Wetherill,  his  heirs,  or  as- 
signs, shall  and  will  forever  hereafter, charge  the  remainder  of 
the  said  just  described  lot  of  ground,  being  forty  feet  in 
breadth  on  the  said  Fifth  street  by  forty-eight  feet  in  depth, 
with  the  payment  of  the  said  yearly  rent-charge  of  four 
pounds,  eight  shillings,  and  every  part  thereof,  so  as  the  same 
rent  shall  not  be  extended  or  charged  upon  that  part  of  the 
said  first  described  lot  of  ground  hereby  granted  in  trust  for 
the  uses  aforesaid,  and  of,  and  from  the  same  yearly  rent,  and 
of  and  from  all  actions,  suits,  distress  and  distresses,  costs, 
charges,  damages,  and  demands  whatsoever,  shall  and  will 
from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  save,  acquit, 
defend,  keep  harmless,  and  indemnify  the  said  Christopher 
Marshall,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac  Howell,  Peter  Thomson, 
Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benjamin  Say,  Joseph 
Warner,  and  Abraham  Roberts,  and  the  survivors  and 
survivor  of  them,  and  the  heirs  and  assigns  of  such  survi- 
vor of  them  and  all  their  and  every  of  their  lands  and 
tenements,  goods  and  chattels,  and  more  especially  the  lot  of 
ground  hereby  granted  with  the  buildings  and  improvements 
thereon  erected  or  to  be  erected  ;  and  lastly,  that  he  the  said 
Samuel  Wetherill  and  his  heirs,  and  all  and  every  other  person 
or  persons  whatsoever,  anything  having  or  lawfully  claiming, 
or  that  shall  or  may  so  have  or  claim  any  estate,  right,  title, 
or  interest  of,  in,  or  to  the  said  premises  hereby  granted  or 
mentioned  to  be  granted,  or  of,  in,  or  to  any  part  or  parcel 
thereof,  shall  and  will  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times 
hereafter,  upon  the  reasonable  request  and  at  the  proper  costs 
and  charges  in  the  law  of  the  said  Christopher  Marshall,  Na- 
thaniel Brown,  Isaac  Howell,  Peter  Thomson,  Moses  Bartram, 
Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benjamin  Say,  Joseph  Warner,  and  Abra- 
ham Roberts,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  or  some  of  them,  make. 


go 

do,  execute,  and  acknowledge  or  cause  so  to  be,  all  and  every 
such  further  and  other  .reasonable  act  and  acts,  deed  and 
deeds,  conveyances  and  assurances  in  the  law  whatsoever,  for 
the  better  and  more  perfect  assurance  and  confirmation  of  the 
said  described  lot  or  piece  of  ground,  hereditaments  and 
premises  hereby  granted  or  mentioned  or  intended  so  to  be, 
with  the  appurtenances,  unto  the  said  Christopher  Marshall, 
Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac  Howell,  Peter  Thomson,  Moses  Bar- 
tram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  Benjamin  Say,  Joseph  Warner, 
and  Abraham  Roberts,  and  the  survivor  and  survivors  of  them, 
and  the  heirs  and  assigns  of  such  survivor  forever,  in  trust,  for 
the  uses  aforesaid,  and  to  and  for  no  other  use,  intent,  or 
purpose  whatsoever,  as  by  their  or  either  of  their  Counsel 
learned  in  the  law  shall  be  reasonably  devised,  advised,  or 
required. 

In  witness  whereof,  the  said  parties  have  interchangeably 
set  their  hands  and  seals  hereunto,  dated  the  day  and  year 
first  above  written. 


Sealed   and    delivered    in  ^ 
the  presence  of  us 

Jonathan  Bartolette, 
William  Perkins, 
Ty.  Matlack, 


Sam'l.  Wetherill,  Jr.,  [seal] 
Sarah  Wetherill.         [seal] 


The  tenth  day  of  July,  Anno  Domini  1783,  before  me, 
Plunket  Fleeson,  Esquire,  one  of  the  justices,  &:c,  for  the 
city  and  county  of  Philadelphia,  came  the  within  named 
Samuel  Wetherill  and  Sarah  his  wife,  and  acknowledged  the 
within  written  indenture  to  be  their  act  and  deed,  and  de- 
sired the  same  may  be  recorded  as  such  according  to  law. 
The  said  Sarah  thereunto  voluntarily  consenting,  she  being 
of  full  age,    separate  and   apart   from  her  husband   by   me 


91 

examined,    and    the    contents    thereof    first    made    known 
unto  her. 

Witness  my  hand  and  seal,  the  day  and  year  aforesaid. 

Plunket  Fleeson,  [seal] 

Recorded  in  the  office  for  recording  deeds,  &c.,  for  the 
city  and  county  of  Philadelphia,  in  Deed  Book  D  No.  7, 
page  193,  July  i6th,  1783. 

Notes  of  Deeds  to  Trustees — Conveying  the  Real 

Estate  held  in  Trust  for  the  Religious  Society 

of  Free  Quakers. 

Deed. — Moses  Bartram,  Jonathan  Scholfield,  and  Benjamin 
Say,  Surviving  Trustees  to  Samuel  Wetherill  Jr.,  George 
Kemble,  Anthony  Ruston,  Joshua  Lippincott,  Thomas  Say, 
Samuel  Yorke,  and  John  Wetherill — Trustees — dated  August 
13,  1808,  recorded  February  27,  1810,  in  Deed  Book  I.  C. 
No  6,  page  215  &:c. 

Deed. — Benjamin  Say,  sole  surviving  Trustee  to  same — 
dated  same  day,  recorded  September  9th,  1808,  in  Deed 
Book  E,  F.  No.  30,  page  565  &c. 

Deed. — Joshua  Lippincott  surviving  Trustee  to  John  Price 
Wetherill,  Edward  Wetherill,  George  D.  Wetherill,  John  P. 
Wetherill  Jr.,  Charles  Kemble,  Joshua  Lippincott  Jr., and  Sam- 
uel W.  Lippincott — Trustees — dated  April  18,  1853,  recorded 
April  19,  1853,  in  Deed  Book  T.  H.  No.  74,  page  344  &c. 

Z>^^^ (endorsed  on  above). — Edward  Wetherill,  George  D. 
Wetherill,  John  P.  Wetherill  (late  Jr.),  Charles  Kemble, 
Joshua  Lippincott  (late  Jr.),  and  Samuel  W.  Lippincott,  Sur- 
viving Trustees  to  William  Wetherill,  John  P.  Wetherill, 
Samuel  W.   Lippincott,  William  Lippincott,   Samuel  Weth- 


92 

erill,  Edward  Wetherill,  George  D.  Wetherill,  Charles  Kemble, 
and  Henry  M.  Wetherill — Trustees — dated  November  29th 
1856,  recorded  June  13,  1882,  in  Deed  Book  J.  O'D.  No.  45, 
page  186,  &c. 

Deed. — John  P.  Wetherill,  William  Lippincott,  Samuel 
Wetherill  Jr.,  Edward  Wetherill,  and  Henry  M.  Wetherill, 
Surviving  Trustees  to  John  P.  Wetherill,  William  Lippincott 
Samuel  Wetherill  Sr.,  Edward  Wetherill,  Henry  M.  Wetherill, 
William  Henry  Wetherill,  Christopher  Wetherill  Jr.,  Charles 
Wetherill,  and  Albert  Lawrence  Wetherill,  Trustees — dated 
April  13,  1882,  recorded  June  13,  1882,  in  Deed  Book  J. 
O'D  No.  45,  page  181,  &c. 

Of  the  above  Trustees  Samuel  Wetherill  Sr.,  John  P.  Weth- 
erill, and  William  Lippincott,  are  since  deceased  and  Edward 
Wetherill  has  resigned. 


Appendix  No.  9. 

Copy  of  "  An  Act  for  vesting  certain  City  Lots  therein 

mentioned  in  trustees   for  a  burial  ground  for  the 

use  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Free  Quakers 

in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,"  passed  26th 

of  August,  1786. 

Private  act  Recorded  in  Law  Book,  No.  iii,  p.  121. 

Whereas  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends  called  Free  Quakers 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  presented  a  petition  to  this  House, 
setting  forth  that  the  said  Society  hath  been  established  by  those 
who  were  disowned  by  the  people  called  Quakers,  on  account 
of  their  attachment  to  the  cause  of  their  country,  during  the 
great  and  important  conflict  for  freedom  and  independence, 
and  have  thereby  been  deprived  of  their  religious  rights  and 
privileges  in  that  society,  without  even  a  distant  probability 
of  a  reunion  with  them  upon  consistent  principles.  That  the 
said  Society  of  Free  Quakers  thus  established  through  neces- 
sity arising  out  of  a  great  revolution,  had  with  the  assistance 
of  their  Christian  fellow  citizens  purchased  a  lot  of  ground 
and  erected  thereon  a  Meeting  House  of  their  own  to  per- 
form worship  in  to  Almighty  God,  which  having  thus  ac- 
complished, they  nevertheless  find  themselves  at  a  loss  for  a 
place  to  bury  their  dead,  and  therefore  prays  the  house  for  a 
grant  for  a  suitable  lot  of  land  for  this  religious  and  benevo- 
lent purpose.  And  whereas  //  is  but  right  and  just  to  forward 
the  designs  of  reiigiofi  and  benevolence,  and  that  the  virtuous 
91 


94 

citizens  of  this  Comvionwealth  who  have  been  deprived  of  their 
religious  rights  and  privileges  on  account  of  their  attachffiefit  to 
the  cause  of  their  country  in  the  time  of  its  ut/nost  danger, 
should  have  the  encouragement  of  tlie  Legislature.  Therefore, 
be  it  enacted,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  by  the  Representatives 
of  the  Freemen  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in 
General  Assembly  met,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same  :  — 
That  Eight  of  the  City  Lots  belonging  to  the  Common- 
wealth marked  in  the  plan  or  draft  of  the  public  city  lots. 
Nos.  34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  39,  40,  41,  situate  contiguous  to 
each  other  on  the  West  side  of  the  Fifth  Street  from  Dela- 
ware River  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  containing  altogether 
in  breadth  North  and  South  on  the  said  Fifth  Street  One 
hundred  and  seventy  six  feet  (that  is  to  say  Twenty  two  feet 
each  lot)  and  in  length  or  depth  East  and  West,  One  hundred 
and  ninety  eight  feet,  six  inches,  bounded  Northward  by  lot 
No.  42  sold  to  John  Taylor,  Eastward  by  Fifth  Street  afore- 
said, and  Westward  by  the  back  ends  of  Sixth  Street  lots, 
with  their  appurtenances  shall  be  and  hereby  are  vested  in 
Christopher  Marshall,  Joseph  Stiles,  Nathaniel  Brown,  Isaac 
Howell,  Peter  Thompson,  Benjamin  Say  and  Joseph  Warner 
(members  of  said  religious  society)  and  the  survivors  and 
survivor  of  them,  and  the  heirs  and  assigns  of  such  survivor, 
forever.  In  Trust,  nevertheless,  to  and  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  a  burial  ground  for  the  use  of  the  Religious  Society  of 
Friends  distinguished  and  known  by  the  name  of  Free 
Quakers  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  and  to  and  for  no  other 
use,  trust,  intent  or  purpose  whatever. 


Appendix  No.  lo. 

Copy  of  Entry  on  the  First  and  Second  pages  of  the 

Book    of  Members   of  the    Free    Quakers,  which 

members  of  meeting  sign,  or   in  which  their 

names  are  entered  by  their  parents. 

The  great  end  for  which  it  pleaseth  the  Almighty  to  bring 
Mankind  into  Existence,  is,  that  they  may  faithfully  serve  him 
here  on  Earth,  and  glorify  him  forever  hereafter.  He  in  his 
infinite  Goodness  is  constantly  calling  upon  them  to  come 
and  learn  of  him,  who  is  Wisdom  itself:  and  we  doubt  not, 
but  that  those  who  adhere  to  his  divine  Instructions  will  be 
rewarded  with  Everlasting  Peace,  and  for  his  manifold  Mercies 
bestowed  upon  us,  believe  it  to-  be  our  Duty,  publickly  to 
assemble  together,  to  offer  to  him  our  grateful  Acknowledge- 
ments and  tribute  of  Divine  Worship.  We  do  therefore  unite 
ourselves  together  as  ISIembers  of  this  Religious  Society  called 
by  some  the  "Free  Quakers":  a  Society  established  upon 
enlarged  and  benevolent  principles  of  the  Gospel  and  hope  to 
profess  true  Christian  Charity  and  that  Divine  Love  which 
enlargeth  the  Heart  towards  all  Men  and  leadeth  to  hope  and 
believe,  that  however  divided  the  Church  militant  may  be,  on 
Earth,  that  yet  the  Church  triumphant  in  Heaven  is  made  up 
of  all  Nations,  Kindreds,  Tongues  and  People,  who  with  the 
Harps  of  God  in  their  hands  are  praising  him  on  Mount  Zion. 

We  think  it  proper  to  add,  as  we  have  heretofore  declared 
in  an  Address  published  in  the  early  Institution  of  this 
95 


96 

Society,  "that  we  have  no  design  to  form  Creeds  or  Con- 
fessions of  Faith,  but  humbly  to  confide  in  those  sacred  Les- 
sons of  Wisdom  and  Benevolence  which  have  been  left  us  by 
Christ  and  his  Apostles,  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and 
appealing  to  that  Divine  principle  breathed  by  the  Breath  of 
God  into  the  Hearts  of  all  Men,  to  leave  every  Man  to  think 
and  judge  for  himself  according  to  the  abilities  received,  and 
to  answer  for  his  Faith  and  opinion  to  him  who  seeth  the 
Secrets  of  all  Hearts,  the  sole  Judge  and  sovereign  Lord  of 
Conscience." 

Being  now  through  divine  Favor  in  some  measure  estab- 
lished as  a  religious  Society,  we  trust  by  an  adherence  to  those 
Catholic  Principles,  we  shall  be  favoured  with  the  Blessing  of 
the  Almighty,  and  therefore  relying  on  him  for  Protection,  we 
do  hereunto  subscribe  our  Names  and  the  names  of  our  chil- 
dren, as  Brethren  and  Sisters  in  Community,  the  seventeenth 
day  of  the  Second  Month,  called  February,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  One  Thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-five. 


Appendix  No.  ii. 

LETTER   FROM   SAMUEL   WETHERILL. 

To  THE  Second  Day's  Morning  Meeting  of  Ministers  and 
Elders,  of  the  People  Called  Quakers  in  the  City 
of  Philadelphia  : — 

I  have  received  a  verbal  message  by  Henry  Drinker  which 
I  understood  came  from  you  :  On  this  message  I  propose  to 
make  a  few  remarks.  Such  are  the  effects  of  long  established 
forms  in  society,  that  I  have  no  reason  to  expect  I  shall 
convince  you  of  the  impropriety  of  your  message  ;  yet  I  re- 
quest you  will  read  what  I  have  to  offer  with  as  much  candour 
as  you  can  command  on  the  occasion  :  I  shall  then  be  per- 
fectly easy  at  whatever  conclusions  you  may  draw,  or  conduct 
you  may  observe  towards  me  in  the  future  part  of  your 
lives. 

The  message  delivered  to  me  was  to  the  following  purport, 
and  as  nearly  verbatim  as  my  memory  serves  me :  Viz. 
"  Thou  must  remember  what  is  written  '  When  thou  comest 
"  to  offer  thy  gift  if  thou  rememberest  that  thy  Brother  hath 
"  ought  against  thee,  first  go  and  be  reconciled  to  thy  Bro- 
"  ther,  and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift :  '  Thy  appearing  as 
"  thou  hast  done  has  given  pain  to  friends;  we  wish  thee  to 
"  be  quiet  in  future  ;  for  a  person  appearing  on  such  occasions, 
"  making  the  appearance  of  a  friend,  and  one  we  have  no 
"  unity  with  ;  is  what  friends  cannot  dispense  with,  we  there- 
"  fore  wish  thee  to  be  quiet  in  future;  but  if  thou  shouldst 
7  97 


"  not,  friends  will  be  under  the  necessity  of  declaring  pub- 
"  Holy,  that  thou  art  not  in  fellowship  with  them." 

Before  I  reply  to  the  foregoing,  permit  me  a  little  to  pre- 
mise. The  subject  is  serious.  It  is  now  many  years  since  the 
Lord  in  a  way  not  less  than  miraculous,  visited  my  soul  with 
his  Love  and  Light,  giving  me  to  see  a  Beauty  in  a  virtuous 
life  far  greater  than  any  one  can  comprehend  who  has  not 
had  the  same  Divine  prospect ;  for  altho'  most  men  will  ad- 
mit the  necessity  of  virtue,  yet  no  man  living  sees  fully  into 
its  beauty  and  infinite  importance,  until  the  Divine  Light  in 
an  extraordinary  manner  opens  it  to  him.  This  prospect 
ravished  my  soul,  and  begot  in  me  so  ardent  a  Love  to  the 
Lord,  as  that  I  then  knew,  and  felt,  what  it  was  that  sup- 
ported the  Martyrs  in  the  flames;  fori  thought,  if  I  had  then 
an  hundred  lives,  I  could  have  sacrificed  them  all,  if  it  had 
been  required,  for  the  Testimony  of  Jesus.  At  this  time  I 
entered  into  covenant  with  my  God,  and  made  a  total  conse- 
cration of  my  heart  to  him.  This  was  the  day  of  my  espou- 
sal to  the  beloved  of  Souls.  This  experience  thus  related  is 
not  meant  to  make  a  parade  of  superiour  virtue,  I  am  far 
from  feeling  any  vanity  of  this  kind,  I  know  my  weaknesses 
and  confess  them,  am  poor,  and  have  often  stumbled  in  the 
way  cast  up  for  the  redeemed  to  walk  in  ;  and  have  much 
reason  to  be  concerned  that  so  Divine  a  favour  together  with 
many  others  since,  have  not  produced  a  greater  effect :  But 
from  the  day  of  my  first  visitation  untill  the  present  day,  I 
have  thought  it  my  duty,  by  example  and  sometimes  by  pre- 
cept, to  recommend  to  Mankind  those  things  on  which  their 
present  and  future  felicity  depends.  That  this  has  been  done 
but  in  an  imperfect  manner  is  confessed. 

I  now  proceed  to  remark  upon  your  message  as  delivered 
by  Henry  Drinker,  viz  :    That  before   I    offered    my  gift  I 


99 

should  first  be  reconciled  to  my  Brother.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  me  to  explain  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  meaning  of  this 
text  as  delivered  by  our  Lord.  I  expect  you  mean  by  it, 
that  I  should  first  be  restored  to  fellowship  with  you,  before  I 
attempted  to  persuade  any  person  to  be  serious,  and  prepare 
for  death,  and  that  it  is  an  exceeding  great  offence  if  done 
upon  a  spot  of  ground  in  which  you  claim  a  propriety. 
Supposing  myself,  or  any  other  person  among  the  least  of 
Mankind,  on  so  serious  an  occasion  as  that  of  a  fellow 
creature  being  suddenly  summoned  into  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  great  Judge  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  should 
feel  a  fervent  wish  that  all  might  be  prepared  when  the  sum- 
mons should  be  sent  to  them.  In  such  a  case  would  it  be 
absolutely  necessary  to  suspend  expressing  this  wish  until  the 
person  was  admitted  into  fellowship  with  you?  If  so,  he  then 
misses  the  opportunity  and  another  may  never  happen.  •  Men 
of  all  denominations  are  usually  invited  to  attend  the  funeral 
of  their  fellow-citizens;  Jews,  Turks  and  Heathens  might  be 
present  on  such  an  occasion  :  Jews,  Turks,  and  Heathens  be- 
lieve in  a  future  existence  and  that  the  virtuous  will  be  happy 
and  the  wicked  miserable.  Now  suppose  the  mind  of  either  such 
person  to  be  deeply  impressed  on  an  occasion  so  serious,  and 
that  either  Turk,  Jew  or  Heathen  should  exhort  every  one 
present  to  be  serious  and  endeavour  to  prepare  for  Death,  I  ask 
you  my  Brethren  what  possible  ground  could  there  be  in  such 
case  for  offence  ?  All  who  are  invited  to  attend  on  those  oc- 
casions are  on  an  equality :  Death  is  common  to  all  men  ;  every 
one  is  alike  interested  in  the  awfull  consequences,  and  there- 
fore none  can  have  exclusive  privileges  to  give  advice  on 
those  occasions.  When  the  Lord  represents  to  the  mind  the 
absolute  necessity  of  preparation  for  Death,  all  have  an  equal 
right  in  his  fear  to  express  their  wish  for  their  fellow  creatures. 


or  to  exhort  them  to  prepare  for  this  awful  change ;  and 
that  any  one  person  whatever,  making  a  profession  of  Piety 
should  be  offended  at  it  is  strange.  I  expect  you  admit  that 
it  is  every  man's  duty  to  wish  well  for  his  neighbor.  And,  if 
so,  then  every  man  has  a  right  and  ought  to  be  at  liberty  to 
do  good  to  his  neiglibour,  either  by  his  advice  or  in  such  way 
as  he  may  think  most  proper,  so  that  a  real  good  be  the 
object :  to  the  Lord  alone  is  he  accountable  for  the  way  and 
manner.  This  is  not  intended  to  vindicate  an  intrusion 
either  upon  you,  or  upon  any  other  persons.  For  as  every 
Man  has  a  right  to  give  his  advice  on  any  important  occa- 
sion, he  being  accountable  to  the  Lord,  so  every  other  Man 
has  a  right  also  either  to  receive  or  to  reject  as  he  pleases 
what  is  so  offered,  he  or  they  being  accountable  only  to  the 
Lord  :  so  that  you  as  individuals  or  as  a  body,  have  a  right 
to  receive  or  reject,  any  advice  which  may  be  offered  to  you 
by  any  person  whatever.  But  where  there  is  a  promiscuous 
multitude  of  all  persuasions  collected  together  on  an  occasion 
interesting  to  all,  there  your  publickly  opposing  what  might  be 
offered,  would  render  you  highly  to  blame  ;  for  there  are 
numbers  not  under  the  same  prejudices  with  you,  and  what 
you  would  reject,  might  be  suited  to  the  conditions  of  others, 
and  well  received  by  them.  You  may  say,  as  Henry  Drinker 
said  ;  we  have  a  rule  to  the  contrary.  It  may  be  so,  but  you 
ought  not  to  have  such  a  rnle.  It  is  an  infringement  upon 
the  rights  of  all  Men,  and  not  only  so,  but  you  presumptu- 
ously infringe  upon  the  prerogative  of  the  Lord,  you  thereby 
attempt  to  circumscribe  his  grace,  and  limit  his  Divine  Light 
upon  the  human  soul.  You  may  object  again  and  say,  If  persons 
have  a  right  to  come  into  our  Graveyards  and  give  us  advice, 
they  have  the  same  right  to  come  into  our  Meeting  Houses, 
and  impose  their  advice  upon  us  there.     To  tliis  I  reply,  the 


cases  are  not  similar.  That  freedom  which  a  person  might  use 
innocently,  or  what  might  be  the  duty  of  him  to  express  whose 
mind  was  seriously  impressed  at  a  funeral  to  a  promiscuous 
multitude,  might  yet  be  very  improper  if  exercised  when  you 
were  assembled  in  your  places  for  worship.  There  is  a 
Divine  reason  and  fitness  in  things  which  the  upright  see  into 
and  which  cannot  be  determined  or  prescribed  by  any  litteral 
rule.  A  Man,  not  of  your  society,  would  be  either  right  or 
wrong  in  speaking  among  you,  according  as  he  was  either 
especially  qualified  or  not,  and  the  strong  prejudices  which 
you  have  against  other  Societies,  altho  it  be  your  fault,  it  yet 
ought  to  make  every  person  exceedingly  cautious,  and  exam- 
ine well  his  authority,  if  he  supposed  it  his  duty,  in  your 
places  of  Worship  to  give  you  advice  ;  for  all  should  take  care 
if  possible  not  to  offend  those  wlio  even  labor  under  the  most 
deep-rooted  prejudices.  Now  altho'  every  Man  who  might 
apprehend  it  his  duty  to  give  you  advice  should  be  extremely 
careful  not  to  offend  you  if  possible,  and  it  is  granted  that  you 
have  a  right  either  to  hear  him,  or  to  refuse  to  hear  him, 
you  being  accountable  only  to  the  Lord  for  your  exercising 
this  right ;  yet  my  brethren  on  this  subject  I  will  give  you  my 
opinion  even  tho'  it  will  have  no  weight.  It  is  safest  to  hear 
what  any  sober  man  may  have  to  say  on  the  all  important 
subject  of  Piety  and  virtue  :  this  will  give  you  no  pain  in  a 
dying  hour;  the  opposing  him  might.  You  should  not  forget 
the  error  of  Judgment  the  Apostles  of  our  Lord  were  under; 
for  altho'  they  were  immediately  commissioned  by  him  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  to  work  Miracles  in  his  name,  yet 
such  was  their  weakness  that  they  forbad  others  doing  the 
same,  because  they  followed  not  with  them  ;  but  remember 
they  were  not  justified  for  this,  but  reproved  by  their  Master. 
Friends  should  also  remember  the  liberty  which  their  fore- 


fathers  took  in  going  into  the  places  of  Worship  of  other 
Societies  and  speaking  among  them,  and  in  their  burying 
grounds  down  to  the  present  day.  To  this  you  will  say ;  It 
was  their  duty  to  do  so  ;  But  it  cannot  be  the  duty  of  a  person 
of  another  Society  to  come  and  Preach  to  friends.  The 
vanity  of  this  declaration  is  exceeding  great.  If  it  is  im- 
proper for  a  person  not  of  your  Society  to  give  an  exhortation 
at  a  funeral  among  you,  or  in  your  place  of  Worship,  upon 
what  principle  is  it  right  in  you  to  exhort  at  the  funerals  of 
others,  and  in  the  place  of  Worship  of  other  Societies  ?  Are 
you  as  a  Society  quite  compleat  in  all  Christian  Graces,  and 
have  you  all  divine  qualifications  bestowed  upon  you  exclu- 
sively to  the  rest  of  Men,  so  as  that  it  is  impossible  to  suppose 
the  Lord  could  with  any  propriety  authorize  any  other  person 
beside  a  Quaker  to  speak  to  you  ?  Can  you  shew  that  you 
have  an  exclusive  right  to  that  divine  illumination  which  ex- 
pands the  heart,  and  warms  it  with  good  will  towards  all  men  ? 
Untill  you  can  shew  that  every  member  among  you  is  so  perfect 
as  that  friendly  advice  bestowed  upon  them  is  altogetl\er  need- 
less, or  that  qualification  to  give  advice  is  possessed  by  you  ex- 
clusively, your  forbidding  any  person  to  give  advice  anywhere 
is  improper.  It  is  indeed,  as  has  been  observed,  presuming  to 
limit  the  Authority  of  the  Highest,  and  is  an  attempt  to  pre- 
vent the  Salvation  of  Men.  But  do  not  my  friends  suppose 
from  this,  that  I  have  any  inclination  to  visit  you  in  this  way. 
I  hope  that  no  such  thing  will  ever  happen ;  it  would  be  the 
most  painful  task  ever  required  of  me,  so  unwilling  am  I  to 
offend  you,  or  to  have  any  altercation  with  you. 

Having  remarked  as  above,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  shew 
you,  that  whilst  you  are  faulting  persons  and  proceeding  against 
them  in  a  high  tone  of  unwarranted  authority,  for  simply 
offering  advice  to  such  as  are  willing  to  receive  it,  without 


I03 

meaning  an  offence,  or  an  obtrusion  upon  any ;  you  are  at 
the  same  time  indecently  intruding  with  your  advice  upon  the 
clear  and  unquestionable  rights  of  others.  I  could  illustrate 
this  by  a  variety  of  instances,  but  for  brevity  sake  one  shall 
suffice.  I  consider  the  Monthly  Meeting  and  the  select  meet- 
ing of  Philadelphia,  as  one  body.  Some  friends  by  depu- 
tation from  the  monthly  meeting  waited  upon  two  of  my 
sons  to  deal  with  them  for  joining  another  religious  Society. 
I  was  present  at  the  conversation  and  the  friends  were  treated 
with  great  decency  and  had  a  clear  and  full  answer  given 
them  by  my  sons,  that  they  chose  to  go  to  the  same  place  of 
worship  with  their  father :  A  visit  was  notwithstanding  after- 
wards repeated,  at  which  I  happened  accidentally  to  be  present, 
and  as  it  was  in  my  own  House,  and  the  business  with  my 
own  children  in  whose  welfare  I  am  deeply  interested,  so  I 
thought,  I  might  without  any  impropriety  say  something  on 
the  occasion  and  more  especially  on  such  an  occasion.  What 
was  said,  was  very  civilly  said.  I  was  however  replied  to  pre- 
cisely to  the  following  effect :  That  friends'  business  was  with 
my  children,  and  not  with  me,  that  I  had  no  business  there, 
and  must  have  come  to  interrupt  friends  in  their  visit.  That 
my  children  were  of  age  and  should  judge  for  themselves,  that 
their  father  was  a  prejudiced  person  and  his  advice  not  to  be 
regarded. 

If  it  be  an  intrusion  of  an  aggravated  kind  for  a  person  not 
of  your  Society  to  walk  into  your  burying  ground  to  attend  a 
funeral  and  there  to  express  a  wish  that  all  might  be  serious 
and  prepare  to  die,  how  much  greater  is  that  intrusion  you  are 
guilty  of,  when  after  you  had  been  decently  received  in  my 
house,  and  a  clear  and  full  answer  given  you  to  your  advice, 
you  still  repeat  it,  and  claim  a  right,  and  exercise  it  too,  to 
give  your  advice  again  and  again,  and  tell  myself  I  had  no 


I04 

business  there,  that  my  children  should  take  your  advice,  and 
not  their  Father's,  for  his  they  ought  not  to  regard.  Let  me 
ask  you  my  friends — How  would  you  treat  men  who  should 
act  in  the  same  way  towards  you,  and  your  children  ?  You 
would  I  doubt  not,  expatiate  upon  such  intrusion,  and  would 
treat  such  persons  with  contempt.  If  there  has  been  an  im- 
propriety in  me  in  obtruding  advice  (which  will  be  impossible 
for  you  to  prove)  yet  when  compared  with  yours  it  is  small, 
and  what  our  Lord  said  to  a  people  formerly,  who  was  apt  to 
find  fault  is  applicable  to  you.  "  Why  beholdest  thou  the 
"mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye,  and  seest  not  the  beam 
"which  is  in  thine  own:  first  take  the  beam  out  of  thine 
"own  eye  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  how  to  take  out 
"  the  mote  which  is  in  thy  Brother's  eye." 

Having  made  the  foregoing  observations  on  the  rights  of 
Men,  it  remains  to  say  a  few  words  respecting  another  part  of 
your  message.  The  writer  of  this  has  not  an  high  opinion  of 
his  gifts  or  abilities  to  promote  the  cause  of  virtue,  he  can 
say  however  he  wishes  well  to  it  sincerely,  and  in  his  feeble 
engagements  therein,  sometimes  feels  a  peace  Men  can  neither 
give  nor  take  away.  But  yet  he  will  confess  to  you,  altho' 
you  have  no  authority  to  call  him  to  an  account,  nor  interfere 
in  his  business,  he  at  times  feels  some  pain  least  he  should 
not  have  advanced  so  great  and  good  a  cause.  But  friends, 
have  there  not  been  appearances  among  you  which  have  given 
you  pain  when  the  fault  lay  with  yourselves?  I  was  a  diligent 
attender  of  your  meetings  for  near  thirty  years,  and  knew 
that  a  part  of  your  meeting  were  uneasy  at  the  publick  ap- 
pearances of  some  whose  Ministry  they  at  length  approved. 
I  well  remember  George  Dillwyn's  first  appearance  in  the  Min- 
istry, and  the  opposition  he  met  with.  There  was  at  that 
time  a  particular  intimacy  between    that  friend  and  myself, 


I05 
and  as  brethren  we  freely  unbosomed  our  hearts  to  each  other. 
After  repeated  opposition  to  him  both  in  publick  and  private 
from  members  of  your  meeting,  a  committee  told  him  plainly 
that  they  had  not  unity  with  his  appearance  :  And  they  en- 
joined him  not  to  break  silence  but  to  bear  his  burden,  and 
more  especially  not  to  appear  in  Prayer,  for  if  he  did,  they 
told  him  they  would  manifest  their  Testimony  against  him 
publickly  by  not  joining  with  him,  and  in  order  still  the  more 
effectually  to  stop  his  mouth,  one  publick  friend  who  is  not 
now  among  the  living,  but  who  was  in  his  day  of  distinguished 
note  among  you,  wrote  a  letter  to  George,  and  in  clear  and 
express  words  told  him,  that  he  had  neither  part  nor  lot  in 
the  ministry,  or,  says  the  friend,  "  the  Lord  never  spoke  by 
me."  As  I  knew  the  opposition  to  George  arose  from  preju- 
dice, and  having  a  great  love  for  him,  I  related  to  my  Father- 
in-law  what  was  carrying  on  against  George,  upon  which  my 
father  appeared  much  surprised  and  altho'  he  was  a  member 
of  your  meeting,  did  not  seem  aware  of  what  was  doing  ; 
which  shews  there  may  not  always  be  unanimity  among  your- 
selves on  business  of  this  kind  :  for  my  Father  immediately 
interested  himself  in  George's  favour  and  spoke  to  John 
Smith  at  Burlington  (George  having  then  removed  there)  and 
requested  John  to  use  his  influence  in  George's  favour,  and  I 
well  knew  that  Mordecai  Yarnal,  Anthony  Beneset  and  John 
Smith  together  with  some  other  friends,  whose  names  I  could 
mention  who  were  then  members  of  your  meeting,  most  of 
whom  are  since  dead,  so  interposed  in  George's  behalf  that  at 
length  he  was  admitted  a  minister  among  you. 

Upon  the  whole  then.  If  the  most  eminent  ministers  among 
you  at  times  give  you  pain,  and  you  do  with  so  much  deter- 
mination oppose  men  of  your  own  Society,  meerly  upon  ill 
founded    prejudices,  what  must  such  poor  creatures  expect. 


io6 

who  have  been  declared  by  you  not  worthy  of  Christian  fel- 
lowship. Is  it  possible  after  such  a  declaration,  that  you  can 
possess  that  simplicity  and  candour  towards  them  in  which 
alone  there  is  true  discernment? 

Further  I  was  informed  that  if  I  should  again  appear  as  I 
had  done,  friends  would  be  under  the  necessity  of  informing 
such  who  might  be  present  that  I  was  not  in  Unity  with 
friends. 

If  you  entertain  an  Idea  that  I  wish  to  avail  myself  of  any 
reputation  which  might  result  from  a  supposed  membership 
with  you,  you  are  under  a  great  mistake.  It  has  happened 
divers  times  since  I  have  been  disowned,  that  I  have  fallen 
in  company  with  persons  who  had  an  esteem  for  friends,  and 
have  found  some  respect  paid  me  upon  a  supposition  that  I 
belonged  to  the  Society,  Now  it  ever  appeared  to  me  a  kind 
of  hypocrisy  if  I  should  let  a  person  go  away  under  such  a 
mistake,  and  enjoy  that  sort  of  reputation  which  I  was  not 
entitled  to,  and  have  always  undeceived  them,  frankly  telling 
them  I  was  disowned  by  you ;  so  that  if  such  a  case  should 
happen  as  you  allude  to,  you  have  not  only  a  right  to  do  as 
you  say,  but  you  have  my  entire  approbation  so  to  do;  how- 
ever in  this  explanation  of  yourselves,  you  ought  to  take  care 
not  to  defame  me,  there  might  be  some  persons  present  on 
such  an  occasion,  who  might  not  be  acquainted  with  the  merits 
of  the  case  for  which  I  was  disowned  ;  such  might  suppose  I 
was  disowned  by  you  for  some  great  immorality :  be  pleased 
therefore  to  state  the  whole  case,  and  I  have  neither  right  nor 
inclination  to  prevent  it,  for  I  have  scarcely  ever  met  with 
one  person,  either  a  member  of  your  Society,  or  of  any  other, 
who  did  not  think  I  was  hardly  dealt  with  by  you,  and  by  far 
the  greater  number  consider  you  as  the  aggressor.  A  man 
may  be  disowned  by  you,  and  held  up  as  a  spectacle  of  con- 


I07 

tempt,  who  nevertheless  may  be  owned  by  Christ  at  the  day 
of  general  judgment,  and  admitted  into  fellowship  with  the 
Saints.  But  let  us  now  enquire  into  the  nature  of  that  offence 
which  was  esteemed  of  such  magnitude  as  to  render  it  neces- 
sary to  testify  against  me.  It  was  simply  for  submitting 
to  the  dispensations  of  Divine  Providence,  which  you 
yourselves  have  since  done,  for  this  no  offence,  have  I  been, 
and  am  still  to  be,  held  up  by  you  in  an  odious  light,  and 
pains  taken  to  stamp  a  prejudice  against  me  upon  the  minds 
of  the  rising  generation,  so  that  when  both  you  and  I  are 
dead  and  all  of  us  in  that  most  awfull  state  of  existence,  future 
generations  may  treat  my  memory  as  you  have  done  my  per- 
son. The  amazing  prejudices  you  labour  under,  and  your 
conduct  governed  by  those  prejudices,  operate  as  an  injury 
for  ages :  And  yet  my  friends  you  changed  your  sentiments 
with  respect  to  the  offence  for  which  you  disowned  me,  for 
you  desisted  from  the  business  you  begun,  and  many  con- 
tinued members  of  your  meeting  who  yet  acted  as  myself  had 
done  :  And  Anthony  Beneset  freely  acknowledged  to  me  you 
were  wrong.  The  candour  of  this  worthy  Man  in  making 
this  voluntary  confession  to  one  who  before  he  had  blamed, 
very  much  endeared  him  to  me,  it  was  a  concession  I  neither 
expected  nor  sought  for :  But  you,  my  friends  not  possessing 
his  virtues,  still  persecute  the  Man  whom  you  at  first  injured. 
There  are  divers  members  of  your  meeting  for  whom  I  have 
always  entertained  an  high  esteem.  I  have  taken  them  to  be 
Persons  of  more  enlarged  and  liberal  minds  than  to  act  towards 
me  as  you  do,  were  they  not  under  the  necessity  of  joining 
with  you  for  form  sake.  If  there  are  such  among  you,  they 
are  excepted  in  the  censure  comprehended  in  this  address. 
But  I  may  be  mistaken,  you  may  be  unanimous,  and  it  is 
possible  your  conduct  may  not  be  so  much  the  effect  of  ill 


loS 

will  towards  me,  as  an  error  in  your  judgment,  you  have  been 
accustomed  to  certain  rules,  perhaps  long  established,  which 
you  conceive  indispensably  necessary  to  observe  ;  how  far  this 
will  excuse  you  at  the  day  that  is  hastening  is  not  for  nie  to 
say;  but  this  dry,  formal,  undistinguishing  sort  of  business, 
leads  at  times  to  the  same  conduct  as  that  of  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  who  bid  the  Apostles  be  silent,  and  excom- 
municated Men  for  believing  in  Christ. 

.  Altho'  the  writer  of  this  is  of  little  consequence  in  your 
esteem,  nor  of  much  in  his  own,  he  is  yet  serious  in  this  ad- 
dress and  thinks  it  is  not  inconsistent  with  a  becoming  degree 
of  modesty  to  request  you  would  read  it  with  solid  attention 
in  your  meeting;  tho'  this  he  does  not  expect.  But  were 
you  to  do  so,  divested  of  prejudice,  you  might  derive  from  it 
some  instruction  which  would  be  of  future  service  to  you, 
both  in  your  individual  capacities,  and  as  members  of  a 
Religious  Society. 

The  foregoing  was  written  just  before  the  breaking  out  of 
the  malignant  fever,  and  was  intended  to  have  been  sent  to 
you  then,  but  the  writer's  attention  was  taken  off  from  this, 
on  account  of  the  extreem  attention  to  his  business  which  he 
was  hurryed  into,  occasioned  by  the  afforesaid  disease,  and 
the  great  mortality  which  hapened  in  consequence.  The 
mentioning  of  which  circumstance  brings  to  his  memory, 
the  particulars  of  that  exhortation  which  gave  you  offence, 
and  occasioned  your  message  to  him.  The  writer  does  not 
pretend  to  the  knowledge  of  future  events,  except  those 
which  must  happen  in  the  nature  of  things ;  but  Divine 
providence  may  make  use  of  an  instrument  to  give  warning 
to  prepare  for  those  things  which  he  may  intend  to  bring 
about,  without  revealing  to  such  instrument  his  particular 
designs.     The  writer  well  remembers  his  mind  was  seriously 


I09 

impressed  with  the  extreem  shortness  of  our  existence  here  ; 
and  of  the  uncertainty  of  all  things  below  ;  and  of  the  in- 
finite importance  of  a  preparation  for  death ;  this  prospect  so 
impressed  his  mind  that  he  thought  they  were  as  powerful! 
reasons  for  deep  consideration  and  preparation  for  death,  as  if 
the  Lord  should  again  at  that  instant  commission  an  Angel  to 
declare,  in  the  AwfuU  manner  one  formerly  did  to  John  the 
Divine  that  time  should  be  no  longer.  This  prospect  the  writer 
thought  it  his  duty  to  express,  and  which  he  did  as  well  as  he 
was  then  abilitated  to  do.  And,  my  friends,  let  me  ask  you 
what  authority  have  you  to  reprove  him  for  it  ?  Has  not  the 
great  mortality  with  which  the  City  has  been  visited,  shewn 
the  propriety  of  such  an  exhortation  from  some  person  ? 
And  how  came  you  by  a  right  to  dictate  either  who  should  or 
who  should  not  be  the  instrument  to  urge  those  things.  What 
was  then  offered  did  not  offend  all  who  were  present,  I  have 
been  assured,  but  on  the  contrary  was  well  received  ;  and  the 
late  visitation  esteemed  a  corroborating  circumstance  to  shew 
its  propriety.  Many  who  were  then  present  are  now  no  more 
in  mutability,  and  among  this  number  is  one,  or  more,  of  your 
Meeting,  and  if  the  Ancient  friend  who  probably  reported 
to  you  what  happened,  and  no  doubt  agreed  to  the  measure 
adopted  by  you,  had  taken  the  advice  then  given,  instead  of 
spurning  at  it,  and  so  improved  the  few  moments  alloted  to 
him  in  the  evening  of  his  day,  as  was  then  sincerely  urged, 
it  would  have  been  acting  a  wiser  part ;  and  altho'  we  may 
hope  he  is  at  rest,  together  with  other  members  of  your 
meeting,  who  agreed  in  your  message  to  the  subscriber,  yet 
their  officiousness  in  this  business  is  now  no  cause  or  part  of 
their  felicity,  nor  will  it  contribute  to  yours,  my  brethren,  in 
the  day  that   is  hastening.     Your   conduct  towards  the  sub- 


scriber,   will    not   be  among  the  good  works  in  which  the 
righteous  rejoice. 

Such  is  the  esteem  which  the  writer  has  entertained  for 
divers  members  of  your  meeting,  and  so  great  has  been  his 
desire  to  live  upon  the  most  friendly  terms  with  them,  that 
he  is  sorry  he  is  obliged  to  write  as  he  has  done  ;  he  wishes 
sincerely  to  cultivate  the  most  cordial  friendship  for  his  fellow 
Christians  of  all  denominations ;  he  therefore  hopes  there 
are  divers  members  of  your  meeting  to  whom  the  censure 
contained  in  this  address  is  not  applicable,  it  would  give  him 
pain  to  think  otherwise,  because  he  wishes  still  to  love  and 
esteem  them.  But  if  your  meeting  is  unanimous  and  those 
persons  so  loved  and  esteemed  look  upon  the  subscriber  in 
that  point  of  view  which  the  meeting's  conduct  towards  him 
fully  implies,  he  will  endeavor  to  bear  with  their  prejudices 
and  patiently  wait  the  event  of  all  things  here  below,  hoping 
and  believing  his  weak  efforts  to  promote  the  cause  of  virtue, 
will  through  his  Master's  clemency  finally  receive  his  appro- 
bation. And  being  supported  in  this  faith  and  confidence 
he  hopes  when  Jesus  commissions,  he  shall  undismayed  at  all 
fit  times  and  places  warn  Men  to  prepare  for  an  Awfull 
Eternity.  Your  advice  and  threats  are  therefore  my  friends, 
considered  in  tlie  same  light,  as  if  you  forbid  the  writer,  to 
Love  his  Lord  and  Saviour. 

Saml.  Wetherill. 
Philadelphia,  iimo.  z^rd,  ijgj. 


Appendix  No.  12. 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS 


FREE  QUAKER  SOCIETY 

Who  are  Known  or  Believed  to  be  Deceased. 


Isaac  Howell,  Trustee,  1783. 
Robert  Parrish. 
James  Sloane. 

White  Matlack,  Treasurer,  1784. 
Moses  Bartram,  Trustee,  1 783. 
Benjamin  Say,  Trustee,  1783. 
Samuel  Wetherill,  Clerk,  Feb.  20, 
Owen  Biddle. 


[781,  to  Sept.  I,  1808. 


The  above  attended  the  first  meeting  of  the  Society,  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1 781. 


Nathaniel  Allen, 1781 

Matthew  Ash, 1 781 

Jonathan  Ash, 1781 


John  Bartram, 1781 

James  Bartram, 1781 

John  Bell, 1782 

James  Boone, 1782 

Joseph  Bonsall 1 78 1 

Joshua  Bonsall, 1781 

Jonathan  Bonsall, 1781 

Enoch  Belts, .  1782 


Abner  Buckman, 1782 

John  Buckman,  Jr. ,     ....  1782 

Nathaniel  Browne, 1781 

Trustee, 1783 

Clement  Biddle, 1781 

Thomas  Bryan, 1 781 

Joseph  Burden, ^7^5 

Margaret  Boggs, 1785 

Margaret  Boggs 1847 

Timothy  (son  of  Guy^  Bryan,  1847 

William  P.  Bryan, 1832 

Martha  Bryan, 18 10 

Peter  Barker, 1781 


Samuel  Crispin, 17S5 

William  Crispin, 1781 

Thomas  Crispin, 1 781 

Lydia  Crispin,      1785 

Lydia  Crispin,  Jr., 1785 

Samuel  Crispin,  Jr.,     ....  1785 

George  Chandler, 1781 

Thomas  Coats 1781 

John  Ciaypoole, 1785 

Elizabeth  Ciaypoole,    ....  1785 

Martha  Coats, 17S5 

Sarah  Coats '785 

John  Chapman, I7S2 

Samuel  Crawford, 1786 

Elizabeth  Crawford,    .    .    .    .1786 

Mary  Crawford 1786 

Charles  Crawford,        ....  1 786 
Elizabeth  Crawford  (Jr.),    .    .1786 

Sarah  Cribs 17S6 

Mary  Crips, 1785 

Hannah  Carmalt, 1785 

Isaac  Collins  (of  Trenton),    .  1781 
Elizabeth  Champion,  ....  1847 

William  Darragh, 1 781 

Lydia  Darragh, 1781 

Ann  Darragh, 1781 

Susanna  Darragh 1781 

James  Delaplaine, 1781 

Cadwalader  Dickinson,  .    .    .  1 781 

Jonathan  Draper, 1782 

Thomas  Dyer 1782 

Timothy  Davis, 1782 

Jehu  Eldridge, 1 781 

Joshua  Ely 1782 

Nathaniel  Ellicot, 1782 

Edward  Evans, 1781 

Evan  Evans, 1781 

David  Evans, 1781 

Thomas  Elton 1 785 

Susanna  Elton, 1785 

Mary  Elton, 1785 


Susanna  Elton  (Jr.),    .    .    .    .1785 

John  Elton 1785 

Thomas  Ehon  (Jr.),    .    .    .    .1785 

Elizabeth  Elton, 1785 

Anthony  Elton, 1785 

Samuel  Eldridge, 1785 

William  Fishery  Jr.),  .  .  .  .1781 
Samuel  Foulke  (of  Richland).  1782 
J.  Fisher, 1781 

Nathaniel  Gibson 1 78 1 

Rebecca  W.  Gumbes,  .  .  .1789 
Samuel  W.  Gumbes,   ....  1830 

Joseph  Govett, 1781 

Edward  Griffiths, 17S5 

Caleb  Hewes, 1781 

Henry   Hayes, 1781 

Samuel    Howell 1781 

Edward  Heston,      17S1 

Isaac    Heston, 1782 

Clara  Hanna 1847 

Thomas  Hopkins, 1781 

Sarah  W.  Hough 1845 

Frances  E.  A.  E.  Hough,  .  1S74 
Sophia  Hildebron, 1847 

Robert  Jones, 1 78 1 

Maria  L.  Janeway, 1830 

Jacob  Karcher, 1785 

Elinor  Karcher, 1785 

Margaretta  Karcher,    ....  1785 

George    Kemble 1805 

Charles  Kemble 1820 

Maria  Kemble 1832 

Samuel  Kemble 1832 

Johanna  Kemble, 1832 

Emily  Kemble,  ...  •  1832 
Charlotte  H.  Kemble,  .  .  .  1832 
Elizabeth  F.  Kemble,  .  .  .  1832 
Joseph  Kemble, 1832 


Charles  Kemble,  Jr.,   .    .    .    .  1832 

Trustee, 1856 

Johanna  Kemble, 1832 

John  Knight, 1781 

Richard  Leedom, 1782 

Anne   Lewton, 1785 

Jacob  Lahn, 1785 

Eli  Lewis, 17S5 

Mary  Lawn, J  785 

Thomas  Lang, 1785 

Margaret  Lang, 1785 

Margaret  Lang,  Jr.,     ....  1785 

Agnes  Lang, 1785 

James  Lang, 1785 

Joshua    Lippincott,      ....  1790 

Trustee, 1808 

Sarah  W.  Lippincott 1785 

Samuel  W.  Lippincott,    .    .    .  1820 

Trustee, 1853 

Joshua  Lippincott,  (Jr.),     .    .  1820 

Trustee, .  1853 

William  Lippincott,    ....  1820 

Trustee, 1856-1894 

Selina  Lippincott, 1820 

Mary  Lippincott 1820 

Timothy  Matlack, 1781 

William  Matlack, 1782 

Timothy  Matlack,  Jr.,     ...  1832 

James  Matlack, 1832 

Ann  McDonald,       1808 

Mordecai  McDonald,      .    .    .  1832 
Christopher  Marshall,      .    .    .1781 

Trustee, 1783 

Fairman    Marshall,     ....  1820 

John  Morris 1 78 1 

Samuel  Morris, 1781 

Aaron  Musgrave, 1781 

J.  Musgrave, 1781 

William    Milnor, 1781 

Elizabeth  Murphy, 1785 


"3 

Elizabeth  Neave, 1785 

Elizabeth  Neave,  Jr.,     ,    .    .  1785 

Joseph  Ogden, 1781 

Joseph  Ogd en,  Jr 1781 

John  Parrish,  Jr., 1781 

Benjamin   Paschall,     ....  1781 
Jonathan    Paschall,     ....  1781 

Sarah  Paschall, 1785 

J.  Pearson 1781 

Joseph  Pearson, 1781 

James  Pearson, 1781 

James  Potter 1 782 

Edward    Pole, 1782 

John  Piles 1785 

Elizabeth  Parry, 1785 

Esther  Parry, 1785 

Rowland  Parry, 1785 

Margaretta  Pfeiffer,      ....  1785 

John  Richardson, 1781 

Thomas  Renshaw, 1781 

Isabella  Renshaw, 1785 

Abraham  Roberts, 17S1 

Trustee, 1783 

Samuel   Robbins 1781 

Thomas  Ross,  Jr., 1782 

Anthony  Ruston, 1805 

Trustee, 1808 

Abraham  Shoemaker,      .    .    .1781 

Samuel  Smith, 1781 

Richard  Somers, 1781 

Sophia  Somers 1785 

Thomas  Say 1808 

Trustee, 1808 

John  Small  wood, 1785 

Susan  Smallwood, '785 

Jonathan  Scholfield,     ....  1782 

Trustee, 1783 

Joseph  Stiles, 1781 

Trustee, 1786 


114 


Rebecca  Scholfield, 
Sarah  Stewart,      .    . 


Peter  Thomson,  .  . 
Trustee,  .  .  . 
Elizabeth  Thomson, 
William  Thomson, 
Stacey  Taylor,  .  . 
Timothy  Taylor,  .  . 
Adam  Trippe,  .  . 
Catharine  Trippe,  . 
Adam  Trippe,  Jr.,  . 
Maria  Tripf)e,  ,  . 
Elizabeth  Trippe,     . 


Joseph  Warner,    .    . 

Trustee,  .  .  . 
Charily  Warner,  .  . 
Ann  Warner,  .  .  . 
William  Warner,  . 
Mary  Warner,  .  .  . 
Elizabeth  Warner, 
Sarah  Warner,  .  . 
Sarah  Wetherill,  . 
Samuel  Wetherill,  Jr 

Clerk,      .... 
Mordecai  Wetherill,     .... 
John  Wetherill 

Trustee, 

Samuel  Wetherill, 

son  of  Mordecai 
Samuel  P.  Wetherill,  .... 
John  Price  Wetherill,     .    .    . 

Clerk, 1S29-1853;  Trustee, 
John  Price  Wetherill,  Jr.,    .    . 

Clerk, 1853-1884;  Trustee, 


180S- 


7S5 
785 

781 
783 
785 
785 
782 
7S2 
785 
785 
785 
785 
78s 

7S1 
783 
7^^5 
785 
7S5 
7S5 
7S5 
785 
78s 
785 
S29 
785 
785 
808 
S08 

S08 
800 

853 
830 

853 


Charles  Wetherill 1S05 

Margaretta  S.  Wetherill,  .  .  1820 
William  Wetherill,  .  .  .  .1805 
Isabella  B.  Wetherill,      .    .    .1825 

Thomas  Wetherill, 1805 

George  D.  Wetherill,     .    .    .  1820 

Trustee, 1853 

Maria  L.  Wetherill 1815 

Rachel  Wetherill, 1S20 

Elizabeth  K.  K.  Wetherill,     .  1820 

Samuel  Wetherill, 1821 

Trustee, 1S56-1890 

Elisha  K.  K.  Wetherill,     .    .  1S28 

Charles  M.  Wetherill,     .    .    .  1830 

Joseph  Bloomtield  Wetherill,  1835 

Isabella  Wetherill, 1845 

Wdliam  H.  Wetherill,     .    .    .  1S35 

Katheriiie  Wetherill,   ....  1S35 

Emma  Wetherill, 1835 

George  D.  Wetherill,  Jr.,    .    .  1S35 

Margaret  Wetherby 1785 

Martha  Wetherby 1785 

Clara  Watson, 1847 

Clarissa  S.  Wilson,     .    .    .    .  1S32 

(dr.  of  John  Claypoole) 

E.  G.   Wilson, 1S32 

S.  B.  Wilson 1S32 

A.  B.  Wilson, 1S32 

C.  S.  Wilson, 1832 

S.  C.  Wilson, 1S32 

R.J.  Wilson 1832 

Cornelius  Wing, 1781 

Thomas  Wright, 17S2 

Samuel  Yorke 1805 

Trustee 1S08 


Appendix,  No.  13. 


NAMES    AND    RESIDENCES    OF    THE    PRESENT    FREE 
QUAKERS,   1894. 


Frances  S.  D.  Gumbes 1706  Pine  St. 

Isabel  G.  Cresson, "  " 

Francis   M.   Cresson, "  " 

Isabel  Cresson, "  " 

Caleb  Cresson,  Jr., "  " 

Susan  V.  Cresson, "  " 

Georgine    Cresson, "  " 

Mary  G.  Barker 425  South  i6th  St. 

Elizabeth  II.  Barker, "         "  » 

George  G.  Barker, "         "  " 

Frances  Gumbes,  Jr., 1706  Pine  St. 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Gumbes, Oaks,  Pa. 

Rebecca  W.  Gumbes, " 

Charles  W.  Gumbes,  Jr.,      " 

Francis  Gumbes, " 

S.  Wetherill    Gumbes, " 

Jos.  Hildeburn  Gumbes, " 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  Lawrence  Wetherill,  .  iioo  Spruce  St. 

John   Price  Wetherill, Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Ira   Cortright  Wetherill, 

Anna   Wetherill, 

Florence  Wetherill, 

John  Price  Wetherill,  Jr., 

William  C.  Wetherill, 

C.  A.  Hecksches  Wetherill,   .... 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  P.  Wetherill,    .  Edgewater  Park,  N.  J. 

Samuel  P.  Wetherill,  Jr., 

Georgine  W.  Smith, 

Sarah  Wetherill, 

Christine   N.  Wetherill,   2d,    ...    . 
Isabel  Wetherill 


"5 


ii6 

William  C.  Wetherill, Joplin,  Mo. 

Elizabeth  C.  Wetherill, "  " 

Gertrude  Wetherill, "  " 

Mrs.  Georgiana  W.  Cox, Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Walter  W.  Cox, 

William  John  Cox, "  " 

Sarah  W.  Cox, 

Eugenia  Cox, "  " 

Madeleine  Cox, "  " 

Mrs.  Thyrza  A.  Wetherill 421   School  Lane,  Germantown. 

Elisha  K.  K.  Wetherill, " 

Maria  K.  Apperson, "  "  "  " 

Jacob  J.  Janeway, Greensburg,  Pa. 

Lawrence  W.  Janeway, "  " 

Joseph  B.  Janeway, "  " 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Price  W.  Janeway,    .    .  Media,  Pa, 

Price  W.  Janeway,  Jr., "         " 

Helen  H.  Janeway "         " 

Maria  K.  Janeway 2316  Locust  St. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Herman  Burgin,   ...  72  W.  Chelten  Ave.,  Germantown. 

Mrs.  Rachel  W.  J.  Hodge 2316  Locust  St. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  L.  Janeway,  Jr.,    .  Phoenixville,  Pa. 

John  L.  Janeway,  3d, "  " 

Augustin  S.  Janeway "  " 

Sibyl  Kent  Janeway, "  " 

Mrs.  Emily  M.  Foster l7loPineSt. 

Mrs.  Martha  \V.  Brinckerhoff,  .    .    .    .      "        "      " 

William  A.  Foster, "        "      " 

Elizabeth  W.  Douglass <<        «      <c 

Mrs.  Mary  C.  Wetherill, La  Fayette,  Ind. 

Mrs.  Anna  B.  O'Ferrall, 

Dr.  Richard  B.  Wetherill 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  M.  Wetherill,  .    .  15  East  Penn  St.,  Germantown. 

Charles  Wetherill, 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  M.  Wetherill,  Jr.,  .  2208  Locust  St. 

Mrs.  Rebecca  W.  Tiers 126  Pomona  Terrace,  Germantown. 

Rebecca  W.  Tiers,  Jr.,      "         "  " 

Mary  Tiers, "         "  " 

Paul  L.  Tiers, "         "  "  " 

Helen  Tiers, "         "  " 

Thomas  M.  Wetherill, New  Orleans,  La. 

Mrs.  Julia  W.  Baker 

Mrs.  Margaretta  M.  Kernan "  " 


117 

Clive  N.  Keman, New  Orleans,  La. 

Mayer  Wetherill, Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Mrs.  Margaretta  M.  Diehl, 2312  Spruce  St. 

Mrs.  Margaretta  W.  Wallace,   ....  Staten  Island,  N,  Y. 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  W.  Smith, 1613  Spruce  St. 

Edward  I.  Smith,  Jr., "  "        " 

Mrs,  Susan  D.  Edson, 2312  Spruce  St. 

Charles  W.  Diehl, " 

William  E.  Diehl, " 

Thomas  J.  Diehl "  "        " 

Samuel  Wetherill,  .    . 1835  De  Lancey  Place. 

Col.  John  M.  Wetherill, Pottsville,  Pa. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  H.  Wetherill,   .  37th  and  Walnut  Sts. 

H.  Emerson  Wetherill "      "  " 

Herbert  Wetherill, "      "  " 

Abel  P.  Wetherill, "      " 

Webster  K.  Wetherill, "      "  " 

Francis  M.  Wetherill, "      '*.         " 

Mrs.  Rachel  Hewson, 1434  Spruce  St. 

Isabel  Hewson, "         "       " 

Emily  Hewson, "         "       " 

Mrs.  Mary  H.  Booraem, 

Addinell  Hewson,  M.  D. 1508  Pine  St. 

William  K.  Hewson, 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  D.  Wetherill,  .    .1723  Pine  St. 

Isabel  Wetherill, "        "      " 

Brinton  Wetherill, "        "      " 

J.  Lawrance  Wetherill, "        "      " 

Caroline  B.  Wetherill, "         "      " 

Lt.  Charles  S.  Riche,  U.  S.  A., 

Capt.  Alexander  M.  Wetherill,  U.  S.  A. 

Mrs.  Agnes  Dundas  Lippincott,   .    .    .  1333  Walnut  St. 

James  Dundas  Lippincott, 509  South  Broad  St. 

J.  Wurtz  Dundas, 1333  Walnut  St. 

Benjamin  W.  Richards, 45  South  17th  St. 

Mrs.  James  Constable,      1820  DeLancey  Place. 

Miss  Constable, "  "  " 

Howard  R.  Constable, "  "  " 

Stevenson  Constable, "  "  " 

Mrs.  Augustus  H.  Richards,     ....  4049  Locust  St. 

Mary  Lippincott  Richards, "         "        " 

Alfred  Wetherill, Elkton,  Md. 

Miss  Jane  Wetherill, 3915  Woodland  Ave. 


ii8 

Miss  Ellen  Wetherill, 3915  Woodland  Ave. 

Miss  Sarah  Y.  Wetherill, "  "  " 

Mrs.  W.  W.  Young, " 

Miss  Marion  Yorke  Young,      .    .    .    .      "  "  " 

Miss  Ella  Young, "  "  " 

Miss  Julia  Young, "  "  " 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edward  Wetherill,     .    .1413  Spruce  St. 

Miss  Edith  Wetherill, '•         "        " 

Miss  Marian  Wetherill, "         "        " 

Miss  Blanche  Wetherill, "         "        " 

Miss  Irma  Wetherill "         "        " 

Miss  Cora  Wetherill "         "        " 

Miss  Rebecca  Wetherill, 1340  Walnut  St. 

Miss  Ida  Cushman, "  "         " 

Miss  Alice  Cushman "         "         " 

Mrs.  Susan  M.  Miller, 2036  Yine  St. 

Mrs.  Anna  Wetherill, 325  South  1 6th  St. 

Mr.  and  Mrs  George  D.  Wetherill,     .    "  "    " 

Thomas  Wetherill, "  "     " 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Christopher  Wetherill  Jr.,  5532  Morris  St.,  Germantown. 

Mrs.  Percy  Browne Roxbury,  Mass. 

Miss  Katharine  W.  Browne,    ....  " 

Percy  Browne,  Jr., " 

Mrs.  George  Northrop Edgewater  Park,  N.  J., 

Mrs.  Isabel  N.  McHenry, "  " 

Dr.  Katharine  Northrop, 316  South  1 6th  St. 

Mrs.  Morris  Hacker, (In  Europe). 

Miss  Beulah  Hacker, " 

Mrs.  Isabel  H.  Dixon 58th  St.  near  Elmwood  Ave. 

Charles  C.  Wetherill, Kingston,  Md. 

C.  Whittington  Wetherill, " 

Samuel  Wetherill,  Jr " 

Edward  Wetherill, " 

Alfred  N.  Wetherill Strafford,  Pa. 

William  S.  Wetherill, 

Morris  H.  Wetherill 

Mrs.  A.   T.  Zeising, 2029  North  8th  St. 

Miss  Zeising,      "  <«     «« 

Miss  Anna  Maria  Kemble, "  •<     << 

Mrs.  Sarah  Kemble  Eichler,    .    .    .    .      "  "     " 

Nicholas  Helverson, "  «•     «< 


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